


His Brood

by sawnixere



Category: Original Work
Genre: Anal Sex, Birth, Consensual, Egg Laying, Eggpreg, Gender dysmorphia, Masturbation, Mpreg, Multi, Oral Sex, Oviposition, Semi-Consensual, Sex while pregnant, Tentacle Monster - Freeform, Tentacle Sex, Transgender, labor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-19
Updated: 2019-03-19
Packaged: 2019-11-25 20:50:07
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 44,758
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18171296
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sawnixere/pseuds/sawnixere
Summary: To go on a mental escape, Tai usually walks, sometimes for miles. It's on one of these walks that he comes across a creature that doesn't seem to mind his company. In fact, it seems to really, really like his company.And Tai might just like it, too.





	1. Chapter 1

Walking was a thing that Tai did when he didn’t know what else to do. It was the sort of thing that let him think, or at the same time, let him drown out thoughts, and so he used it to his advantage. And really, he could probably walk from one end of the city to the other and never get lost, find every little side-street and lakeside path to meander along. The latter was where he was currently loping along, somewhere on the outskirts of town where a gravel path melted into a dirt one and then into bouncy, detritus-layered undergrowth. He hopped over a skinnier portion of the creek that fed into the open lake a few miles off, then skirted a hill and finally drew to a halt along the calmer bank.

He sat, headphones on, and watched a leaf crest over a rock, then amble along between a stick and the bank, twirling in an eddy before carrying on its way. The thing about it was, he never really sat and thought about nature, how the trees looked or the grass smelled. He just lazed away in his own mind with the whisper of everything around him.

Which was why, when something touched his hand, he jolted, whipping it up and knocking the thing away with a sharp gasp. Rubbing his hand, he glanced down and saw- well… he wasn’t sure what he saw. He’d assumed it was a slug just from the feel, but it wasn’t a slimy little goo creature, it was only part of something larger, which he traced the length of with a glance. It… sort of looked like a jellyfish? More opaque than any he’d seen on television, and with thicker appendages, not to mention the body itself made it feel more like an octopus he’d seen when he’d been on a date to the aquarium, it was so big.

“What the fuck are you?” he asked, frowning. Was it a jellyfish? His hand didn’t sting, so maybe it was just not poisonous? Or what if it was some weird type of octopus- except it didn’t even look like an octopus, really, just sort of a squidgy mass, pulsing lightly at the edge of the water like it had beached itself. Not to mention Tai thought all octopi were saltwater anyway, though he wasn’t very well read on sea creatures.

Tai considered, then tugged his sleeve down over his hand and stood up, edging closer to the thing. Maybe it should get back into the water, salt or not? He reached out and prodded the body; the tentacles withdrew as the spongy mass shrunk in on itself, but only slightly. Other than that, it didn’t move, and Tai poked it again with the same result.

“What, you don’t wanna go back in?” he asked, though he didn’t really expect an answer. “So then what?”

Of course, the creature didn’t respond, it just pulsed, unmoving otherwise. Tai, never much for curious exploration, shrugged it off, scooting away again. “Just stay over there, then, will you?”

At first, the creature seemed willing to agree, albeit silently, and stayed drawn-in upon itself, leaving Tai in peace with his music still humming in his ears. But then he felt another slither, this time over his leg and much like a snake, and out of instinct, kicked at it. The appendage fell with a soft thud next to him and shrunk back again, but not as far.

“What?” Tai asked it, finally dropping his headphones around his neck and glaring at the thing. “God, quit it, will you?”

The appendage that had been crawling over his leg had been the first of a few, the others having curled on the ground next to him while the first made its exploratory climb. One of them poked at Tai’s leg, and he moved, then another did, and he snorted.

“Fine, go for it. You’ll fuckin’ see there’s nothing you want on me.” And with that, he re-crossed his legs, put his headphones aside, and waited.

The creature took a few moments to begin exploring again, put off by the shoving, but eventually the appendages slithered up over Tai’s leg, one tentatively exploring and then immediately rejecting his lower leg, while the others moved across his thigh and up to his hip. When nothing further happened, a fourth joined them, and then a fifth, and Tai let them mosey about like garter snakes. After all, they seemed about as harmful as one. They wouldn’t find anything of use, and then they’d get the hell away.

However, whatever the thing was seeking, it must have found it, because the tentacles continued their trek. One clambered up Tai’s arm and felt his face- which he ducked away from and closed his mouth against, blowing a breath on the thing and making it reconsider. The others had pooled generally against his belly, curling and uncurling, and loathe to move away from it farther than his chest and thighs. And really, it was warm. The creature wasn’t like a fish or anything, it wasn’t chilly or slimy- it didn’t leave any residue on his clothes, and almost felt like a blanket tossed across his lap.

They squirmed happily into Tai, too, moving gently and seeking the warmest places they could. He felt one of them brush under the baggy edge of his hoodie, against his skin, and it felt more like a soft finger than he’d expected, its own skin just barely textured, like a warm palm.

“You ain’t a rabbit,” he chided, shifting slightly; a few of the tentacles brushed his inner thigh as they explored and he could feel them through his jeans, like fingers stroking. “Don’t… think you can crawl under my shirt just ‘cause you’re being nice.”

He shifted again. The tentacles compensated, curling under his legs and against his crotch, and Tai moved his legs closer together. “Nuh-uh,” he said, except… it felt kinda nice. Still like someone touching him, like if they just lingered long enough they could keep touching and Tai wouldn’t do anything about it. They pressed against his thighs for the warmth, and he moved his knees, leaning back on one hand.

The tip of one brushed just below his navel, under his shirt. Then another followed its lead, curling back and forth, and Tai balanced on both hands. He spread his knees farther, but the fabric of his jeans disallowed more delicate touches. He squirmed. “Fuck. God, imagine me sayin’ some… weird thing out in the woods got me off. H- heh…” In seeming response, one tentacle curled right between his legs, threading its way right down the seam of his jeans. Tai squirmed again.

“Fuckit,” he breathed to himself, sitting back up so he could unbutton and zip his fly. He shimmied a little, scooting into the feeling of the tentacles, and slipped his hand under his boxer-briefs’ waistband, spreading his lips to coat his fingers with the wetness he’d developed, and sliding a fingertip over his clit with a pleased hum. The tentacles seemed very interested in rubbing him to orgasm, and he thought he may as well come if they were gonna. Tai laid back carefully, glancing briefly behind him to make sure the ground was soft, and spread his knees, giving the tentacles free reign of his legs.

The creature seemed content enough with the two under his shirt, curling them over Tai’s stomach and hips in smooth motions. The other tentacles, however, explored further, disturbed by the movement of Tai’s hand. They slid over his legs and hand, reaching along with the others on his belly, but then they became distracted, and Tai didn’t notice until they’d already slipped into the gaps made by the tent of his boxers over his hand.

Two of them slid in, then another two after, and by that point, Tai’s hand was a bit more pinned than he’d like. He groped along, trying to shove them out of the way and sitting up to do so, but just as softly and gently as they’d mused over his legs and hips, they slithered across his skin, and god. It was like four independent hands determined to get him off. “Fuck,” was all he could say, as they delved deeper into his boxers and along his wet slit.

And really, Tai couldn’t exactly deny that he was a slut. Despite his inconsistencies and issues, and a whole hell of a lot of bad life experiences, sex was one of those things that usually went pretty damn good, especially when whoever was doing the fucking actually listened to him. And they’d better listen to him, because Tai knew exactly what he wanted, and that was to get well fucked. In this situation, it had become clear from the moment those tentacles had sought the warmth of his groin that he was going to get off one way or another, and if he didn’t have to do any work for it, so much the better.

He took his hand away, pausing only briefly and with much force of will, to kick off his shoes and shove his pants down to likewise push away, pulling his too-big hoodie down to keep his ass from getting dirt smudged all over it. The creature didn’t even seem to mind; the tentacles had found what they were looking for, and the body was still sitting exactly where it had been. It even continued to seek and probe at Tai during the whole shenanigan, when his foot got stuck and he had to sit back up- breathing heavy and squirming and trying not to give in without doing something. He tugged his pants off, tossing them aside, over with his headphones, and then he simply lay back, knees up and cocked, to give the tentacles open and waiting warmth.

All of them took the invitation, a wiggle of Tai’s hips coating the tip of one with damp as it probed closer. “C’mon,” Tai murmured, sliding a hand down his stomach and over the two tentacles curled there, over his wiry pubic hair and under the body of one to touch his clit. “C’mon, fuck me-”

The tip of one tentacle slid down his inner folds and he shuddered, and then it prodded gently deeper. Tai squirmed, wanting to force it further, wanting to command it to ram into him, but the creature just kept its pace, a long, slow slide into Tai. God, it made him whiny. “Fuck, c’mon, please-” he breathed, and it just kept sliding, slicked against his flesh and oozing along. And then a second one joined the first, curling around its base and easing in like a lover adding an extra finger, and Tai let his knees spread so he could take it with a groan of pleasure.

Still curled lazily on his chest and moving in a slow undulation, the tentacles on his stomach created warm patterns Tai could feel, like breathing. And yet, the other tentacles pushed deeper, wider, and Tai shuddered, grinding his hips against them. “Fu- uhck… yes, more-”

Whether it could understand or not, the creature obliged, a third tentacle sliding against the underside of Tai’s leg as he raised them, bracing his feet as near himself as he could. In turn, the tentacle took its ample opportunity, and Tai felt a sort of goopy dampness slip against his ass, a finger on the hunt for something to delve into. “Oh, god, hh- I- j-jesuaah-” Tai managed, before the slick tentacle eased its way against the entrance. He bore down, and it slid in almost as easy as the other two, a soft and malleable, squirming noodle sliding against every wall it could and brushing his flesh between itself and the tentacles filling him up.

Tai shuddered again, bucking, giving all three tentacles even more room to roam- somehow the double penetration had moved so deep it felt like they were curling against his stomach, and the one in his ass slid deliciously in, inch by inch; he didn’t even know how long they could get, or how deep they could go, but he bore down on them and they wiggled back, the resistance so perfect he gasped as yet another tentacle tip explored between the other two.

God, he wanted them to make him come. He was riding a hazy edge in his mind, painfully stimulated by how full he’d become, how it had gone so deep and filled each orifice, and each rotation of his hips gave them just a little more and just a little less space to work with, stretching him. He finally raised a hand to his mouth and licked his fingers, pressing them against his tongue, while he reached back down with his other hand to slick his fingers through the leaking wet and pay more attention to his neglected clit.

He came quickly, the anticipation of the remaining tentacle poking against him and the stimulation of the other three too much for him to take. He clamped his knees shut, back arching and hips moving in a jagged attempt to fuck himself dry on the tentacles as he brought himself to climax. Tai did have stamina, but he’d never quite gotten the hang of immediate multiple orgasms, and so as the convulsing slowed, as he ground upon the tentacles still undulating inside him, he gave his arms a rest. Heaving several breaths, he laughed, gasping air. “Fuck, s- shoulda- ah, god. Shoulda found y-you sooner… hnnh.”

Tai’s flexing muscles made the creature shudder, all the way from its body to the tips of its tentacles, and with the revelation of Tai’s orgasm, it quivered, the tentacles suddenly expanding- another groan and scrabble of fingers in the dirt for Tai- and then contracting. A hot, sticky sensation filled him, from all the tentacles. Even the ones on his stomach spurted a splash of thick goo, nearly opaque and silver-shiny. Tai raised his head to glance at it, and chuckled. “Hah. Gotcha.”

He tried to sit up a little, thinking that the tentacles had finished and would just leave, but they remained deep inside him, squirming and wandering around each other and forcing more flesh between themselves. That, and the last tentacle to have prodded against Tai was still there, the near-opaque tip barely pressed in. “God, how many times you gonna go, huh?” he breathed, shifting. The last tentacle pressed against him and finally slithered inside, and Tai felt it breach his pelvic muscle, bigger and wider than the other two combined.

Propped up on his hands, Tai watched, and breathed, and his body curled into itself. “J-jesus fuck.” He spread his legs again, knees twitching, and breathed gasps through his open mouth as it delved deeper, just like the others, slithering along and filling him. He bucked his hips, supporting himself with one shaking arm and spreading his hand over his belly. God it was so much, he’d never had a cock or a toy this big, and for a brief moment he was worried it’d just keep going, fill him too full and burst him. He could even feel the body of it, undulating under his hand as it crept deeper, and finally couldn’t take it anymore, falling back with a thud against the spongy ground, mouth open and panting, turning on his side just so he could have some sort of control.

He raised his knee, still curled into himself, able to see the fat tentacle and its smaller brothers stuffing him full, the one in his ass having formed a slow, thrusting rhythm that Tai could feel in the flesh squeezed between them. Tai pressed his forehead against the ground and breathed in the scent of dead pine needles and his own sweat and come, and shuddered to another crashing orgasm, a silent scream halting his breath for a dozen long moments.

And yet the creature still wasn’t done. Through bleary, sex-glossed eyes and panting breaths, Tai watched the tentacle, watched as it undulated from the body of the creature, a direct link from him to it. The larger part of the creature had remained in its place, the opaque body pulsing, but the rhythm of it different. If Tai had any brain cells to rub together after that, he would have been able to see it expand as the three small tentacles thrust, and contract, drawing them back a few inches, before repeating the process.

How many times could Tai come? He’d never counted, but he was sorely tempted, if he could remember how to start. He’d… he’d brought himself off, and then just now, the monster cock in him- for fuck’s sake, that’s what it was and he wouldn’t call it different- had gotten him again, without even touching his clit. And it was just staying there, pulsing and fucking him like a tender lover, and christ if he didn’t want it again. He wanted it to fuck him into half a dozen orgasms, to raw him until there was hardly anything left. He wanted find its fucking mouth and make it suck his clit clean so he could do it all again, but it was just there and fucking him and it never felt like it’d stop, and Tai closed his eyes and relished it.

He opened his eyes when he felt the pressure. It could have been seconds or minutes later, but it was different, and it was pushing into him, like the fat cock of a tentacle was expanding. Tai bucked his hips weakly, trying to parse in his vision exactly what was going on. He could see the body of the creature still in place, the tentacles pushed out from underneath as if it had a skirt around it. He could see the thin ones and compare them to the thick- and… the thick one had grown thick with lumps all up and down its length. But the lumpiness was moving, sliding right along with the shuddering of the creature, and they were uneven. Some of the bumps traveled in groups, others single. Tai watched as the creature expanded, then contracted, and the lumps slid further, gasping at the tightness of the new pressure against him. He couldn’t even martial words, not against this. “H- hnh-” was all he got out as the creature expanded again… contracted, and the lump pressing against Tai finally slipped past the opening, squeezed tight and stretching him around its bulbous form. “G-god,” he shuddered out.

And there again was that same pressure; Tai dug his forehead into the dirt and the tentacle inside him moved just barely, and there, he felt as if he’d just had a water balloon shoved into him, the two orbs thickening the tentacle cock. They stayed in him a moment, while another of the orbs lined itself up and the small tentacles Tai could still feel pulled back. The creature pulsed, Tai felt the pressure, and the three small tentacles thrust back in, two alongside the orbs and the one in his ass contributing, forcing the lumps further in with them. And then they slipped to the end of the tentacle somewhere deep within him, and the feel of them moved as if they’d been those same balloons, squeezed through a nearly too-small gap with a sudden rush, and two more took their place.

Whatever was happening, Tai couldn’t get up the strength to move, not more than to force his knees under himself. But his arms were shaking, and the four tentacles in him felt nearly too thick to try and pull out. Not that the orbs tying them to him would help any. His knees slipped apart, the tentacle in his ass squirming another inch deeper and helping press ever more of the spheres into that slide deep in his gut.

And then it kept going. Tai lost count of the spherical shapes as they pressed inside him, sometimes one and then a next, and then the slide of them as they popped deeper into his belly, sometimes three, or a lone pressure, and in one instance, a rush of four as the creature seemed to sigh and inject even more of the nodules into its thick tentacle cock.

He lost count, too, of how many times he came. Each contraction of his muscles- long intervals between, earned a gentle, warm spurt of liquid from the tentacles inside him, so much so that it dribbled down his legs and the limbs plugging him. And it was so hard, too, to find any sort of rhythm, the orbs lodging themselves in erratic sets within the shaft and disappearing sometimes singularly or sometimes in a rush that dragged more than Tai expected.

The creature contracted. Tai came.

It expanded, and Tai’s shivering, tired muscles weakly grasped at the orbs clamoring to fill him, three, then two, then four, then two. He felt so heavy, so tired. His back ached, head throbbing as he pressed it into his grasping hands.

Three. Then three. The creature contracted. It expanded, and two orbs slipped into Tai. Contract. Expand. The orbs slipped out of the tentacle cock’s tip and away, filling too-full Tai. A single egg passed through.

Another pressure and Tai forced himself back onto it, bearing down, mouth open and hands scrabbling at anything they could grasp. Four more orbs clustered inside the cock, inside him, and the smaller tentacles guided them on until Tai arched and they slipped into that same heavy, expanded space in his belly, joining the dozens of others. Three more followed quickly, a throb and a slide slipping them alongside, and Tai shuddered into an orgasm that rocked him so hard he couldn’t breathe.

And then the rhythm of convulsion slowed. One single, final orb pressed itself into him, his muscles squeezing it just as deep as the rest and the tentacles barely having to work, and Tai, twitching as if electrocuted, groaned and gasped against the dirt.

It was the tentacle in his ass that moved first, easing out as organically as it had slithered in, goo-slicked and shiny. It fell away, and Tai shivered, unable to control the spurt of silvery creature come that dribbled from his ass. The large tentacle slid out next, as if nothing had ever happened, save for it being as come-shiny as its smaller counterpart.

And finally, the remaining two. They squirmed together, seeming to enjoy their last little foray, and then shivering as they shot another thick, sticky mess of come deep into Tai. He panted, and they sagged free, slinking away to the body of the creature, which had significantly deflated. They disappeared beneath the gelatinous skirt of its body, and it simply remained where it had sat the whole time, in a sort of preeminence over the quivering, slime-and-sweat-coated human before it.

That was all. Tai was done, and god, he felt like he still had twelve cocks in him, his body tired and shaky and heavy. He breathed against his hands, ass in the air like he was waiting for one last fuck, and groaned. Fuck, what had he gotten himself into? It was… fucking glorious and terrifying at the same time, and if he was honest with himself, he wanted more. Not now, god no, but just imagining the splayed, shivering mess he was, the way the tentacles gently fucked him into oblivion… Fuck. He breathed, lungs tight, and tried to gather himself to rise, to find his knees still shaky. But he pushed himself up on all fours and- “Ngh,” he murmured, blinking at the ground. He was still so full. Each little motion sent a new cluster of shivers through him as he settled, and it took so much effort to force himself to sit up.

As he did, pressure built up along his pelvis, like he’d strapped a bag to his waist and filled it with coins, and when he looked down-

His hoodie wasn’t so baggy anymore.

Still breathing a bit too hard, he leaned over himself, grasping at his distended belly with one arm. Everything shifted, pressing together, filling spaces, and he moaned. All those orbs- they’d stayed in, they’d been coaxed along by those little appendages and poured into him from that fat tentacle cock and left him so full he looked fucking pregnant… like…

“ _Fuck_ me,” he croaked.


	2. Chapter 2

Moving was a chore. Not only were Tai’s muscles shaking putty held together by skin alone, he was exhausted. How many times had he come? Five? Six? He shivered, reaching for his pants, which meant he had to lean over his belly. And what a fucking belly it was now, his generally wiry form laden heavy with those orbs- eggs, he’d realized, once the creature’s tentacles had slipped free with a final spurt of honeylike fluid that still dribbled down his legs. They were fucking eggs.

As far as he could feel- and he thought he could feel damn near every inch of himself, tender and soaked and used- the eggs were thoroughly in him; he slipped tentative fingers into himself and came back with only a come-coated hand, even pushed as far as he could reach. Not to mention every time he moved, the weight of his belly moved too, the eggs rocking against each other, creating and filling spaces in his womb as they shifted. It was torturous enough that once he _did_ reach his pants, he just draped them over his crotch and legs, still on his side, and waited for the afterburn of sex to drain away. And as he lay, he splayed his hand across his stomach.

It felt like a solid mass, like he wasn’t impregnated with several dozen eggs, but with a single, heavy weight. Only when he pressed, and with a decent amount of force, did they shift, and the heat from them redistribute.

“Nh,” he breathed. Jesus, how much of a dumbass did you have to be to let a fucking octo-jellyfish fuck your brains out, just to turn you into its personal incubator? Apparently, Tai-levels of dumbass. But honestly the worst part, the part he couldn’t fucking believe was running through his mind as he lay half-naked and _pregnant_ on the edge of the water, was that he _liked_ it. He’d come so many times he was a gibbering mess by the end of it, the squeeze and pressure of that tentacle-cock filling him, the eggs stretching him open and slipping one after another in spurts and rushes of one or two or five out the tip of the tentacle and saturating his womb with their warmth and weight. He was tired, but fuck if it wasn’t worth it.

Or at least, worth it for the time it was happening. Now, he’d just been left gravid and achy. He breathed out a few more long breaths, then pushed himself up to sit. The stretch of his belly shifted along with the eggs, settling the weight into his lower back. He didn’t have any form of reference, nor even any clue how his body had handled such a ballooning, but it looked like he’d swallowed a soccer ball. It was, at least, nowhere near the size of women in movies who always seemed to be in life-threatening situations when their water broke. Instead he was maybe half that size, but not being used to it, Tai couldn’t even begin to imagine himself much bigger. How, at that rate, would he have even gotten home?

How was he supposed to go home now, too? What was he meant to do, amble his way on back like nothing had happened? His hoodie was baggy enough to cover at least an initial glance, but there were definitely going to be questions that he wouldn’t have answers to. No one would believe him.

Could he even _go_ home? They were eggs, he couldn’t be stuck with them forever-

A thought struck him just then. _What was going to happen next?_ Were they like chicken eggs, shat out once a day for the rest of his life? Was he going to have to lay them, like in a nest? Or was he just a storage unit until they hatched inside him and he had to give birth-

Tai felt sick. His stomach roiled, and his womb complained in turn, the organs squeezing uncomfortably against each other. Guys didn’t get pregnant! Women got pregnant, had kids, did all that stuff. Just because he had tits he hated enough to strap down and a goddamn vagina didn’t mean he wanted to go and be a girl! He wrapped his arms around himself, lacing his fingers over the back of his head, and rocked back and forth, but that only brought into sordid perspective his horrible, fat, pregnant gut. The fact that he was pregnant and it wasn’t even human was just the icing on the shit cake.

He rolled to one side and heaved, upchucking his breakfast muffin from earlier that day, and the eggs quaked as his middle squeezed in on itself. He heaved again, but this time all that came up was a bit of bile, and finally, with a last couple heaves, nothing at all. Blinking tears from his eyes, Tai squinted at the ground and panted, swallowing the taste of vomit.

Breathe.

It was… it was fine. He could do this. However long it took, he just… well, he didn’t have a choice, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t stick it out. What could he do otherwise, cut himself open and get them out that way? That thought was way more upsetting than a goddamn pregnancy. It… it wasn’t a pregnancy anyway, he told himself firmly, turning back over and dragging his pants back on in a struggle. It was just a fucking… food baby or something. An infestation that’d go away eventually.

He just hoped ‘eventually’ was sooner rather than later.

…Fuck. His pants didn’t fit.

***

By the time Tai waddled his way home, hoodie pulled to cover his unbuttoned jeans, the sun had started to go down. He hadn’t wanted to add the extra time onto his laborious walk, but taking alleys and back roads meant he wouldn’t have to run into as many people. Not that anyone knew him well enough to wave at him on the street, especially if he kept his hood up and his shoulders slouched around the roundness of his belly. Really, with how quickly his profile had changed, even people that knew him may not know it was him if they didn’t get a good look at his face.

He checked to make sure the lights in his parents’ house weren’t on. There was no car in the driveway, meaning they’d probably gone out somewhere or were still at work, which was just as well. He didn’t want the second-degree for where he’d been or how long he’d been gone on top of them having a chance to figure out what, exactly, he’d been doing. But not even the single light his father usually kept on was shining in the living room window, so he crossed the street to head inside. He paused momentarily, shutting the door behind him and mentally scanning the kitchen cabinets and fridge for food as he stepped on the backs of his shoes, too lazy to untie them. But he came up with nothing quick that sounded appealing, nor did he want to bother with cooking. He didn’t know when his parents would be home, and really, he was just too tired.

He did at least, when he shut his room’s door and dug through a pile of clean laundry, come across a pair of pajama bottoms that fit over the swell of his abdomen, and comfortably. Now it was just a matter of… carefully sitting down so as not to lose his balance, then swinging his leg up- the eggs stirred, and he flexed his pelvic muscles, squeezing at them in return as he lay back. Immediately, though, he grew uncomfortable as the eggs pressed down on him, and so he very ungracefully and with much effort rolled onto his side so he could breathe again.

Ugh.

Thankfully, after the initial shifting, Tai was able to relax. He kicked briefly at his blankets, snagging them and tugging them up over himself. It had gotten a little chilly once the sun had started to dip, but under the blankets and with the added ambient temperature of the brood nestled in him, he quickly warmed up and closed his eyes. Maybe it wasn’t so bad? He was still on the fence about the whole thing, the pros of the first however long roughly equal to the cons of the last few hours. But right now, he was actually comfortable.

He took one hand from where he’d tucked them up under his chin and ran it down his chest, feeling where the mass of eggs began to curve his abdomen, just under his chest binder. Trailing his fingers down his side, he slid his palm over his taut skin, then across his belly button and down under the sagging weight and to his hip. He slipped his fingers under the hem of his shirt and then, repeating the motion, he pressed just a little, feeling the give of his womb despite its fullness.

“You gotta come out sometime,” he murmured, tucking his arm just below his navel and rubbing his thumb softly back and forth on his smooth skin. What would it be like? The same as it had been when they’d slipped into him? Would they grow, filling him more? And, god, when? How long until they were ready?  
Idly, as he began to drift into an exhausted sleep, he wondered if he should count them when they finally did arrive.

 

_Eighty-one… another four and then three, that’s eighty-eight, then two, and five, god- somehow he could keep such good count of the eggs his tentacled lover deposited in him. He bore down and pressed back just for the feel of taking as many as he could at a time, bracing himself on all fours for the ease of moving, of helping, and letting his head fall forward so he could actively watch the curve of his abdomen grow. So full, so pregnant. A hundred eggs, and more. Without even giving him space to breathe, another creature prodded at him, and the first, spent, retreated. Wantonly, Tai shoved himself onto the tentacles, crying for them to fuck him, to come in him and let him be their brooding chamber._

_A hundred and three eggs. Tai kept perfect count of the orbs slipping into his womb. And then the second creature delved deep into his entrance, its hot load coming quicker than before, but never so quick that he couldn’t relish the feel of each and every slide of egg into his expanding brood._

_Eight at once… ten and seven, then twelve… his belly brushed the floor beneath him and the eggs clustered ever tighter._

_He kept perfect count._

Tai blinked into the wee hours of the morning, overly warm and damp with sweat, panting shallow breaths. Ugh, he’d fallen asleep with his binder still on, and besides, what was that dream? He rubbed his knees together and felt dampness between his legs, brought on by the fantasy he’d imagined. Everything about him was still overfull and tender, but that apparently hadn’t stopped him from thinking about reliving such a great fuck.

He tried to roll over onto his back, then decided against it, the eggs still dragging at his belly, and so remained on his side, rubbing the heel of his hand against the curve. No, he _did_ want to move. The fingers on his right hand were prickly with numbness from being trapped under him, so he pushed himself up on his elbow and worked himself onto all fours. The eggs shifted along with him, and he bent his head against his pillows, wiggling his hips into the sensation with a sigh. He was still, weirdly, torn; this feeling in him, triggering to his dysmorphia as it was, wasn’t _bad_. At least, not as bad as it could be. God, he didn’t think he was sane for admitting it, but he rocked forward and his belly swung and it was… delicious. Besides… what was the difference- aside from the brood _making_ him that way- between his rounded belly and the beer gut of any other dude? Who could tell besides him? And Tai might not be tight-lipped about some things, but damn if he was gonna spout the secret of that riverside tryst to anyone. This brood of his, however long it stayed, could be a secret, just a very careful one.

He rocked forward and back again, sitting back on his knees and letting the eggs settle and feeling the squish of fluid between his legs. Despite his unease with it, he took off his shirt, then rolled his binder up and took that off too, rubbing the reddened skin beneath. His breasts were small anyway, enough that the binder, when on, completely flattened him. With the swell of his new belly, they seemed even smaller. He cupped his hands around them, pressing them down again, then slowly let them sag back into shape, and mused over how much better he felt in comparison to when his stomach was flat. Funny what pregnancy would do to a guy to improve his mood.

Then he rose again, tilting his body forward so his belly hung, pressing his forehead into his pillows and looking up at himself. God, he looked even bigger. His breasts seemed no larger than the lemon-sized eggs rolling around inside him, and he smiled, rocking and watching as he swung. He could imagine the tentacles inside him, visualizing them in the twilight, wormed between his legs and stuffing him full of their damp, temperate bodies. He could feel, with his smooth rocking, the eggs of his brood shift and imagine more slipping into him. He squeezed his legs together, mournful of his empty slit, and then spread them, sinking down and reaching- rubbing his hand down his chest, fingertips gliding over his nipple and stomach and edge of his hip beneath the waistband of his pajamas. The warm wetness made him gasp, and he slid his fingers over his clit, inside himself, then back out.

It was easy for him to pick up a rhythm, already damp and needy, and while he wanted to reach under his bed for a toy, something to fill him up, he didn’t. Instead, he could concentrate on the way he moved, the rotation of his hips and the press of his belly into his arm. How usually, he could see the movement of his hand, or the silicone cock he’d stuffed into himself, but it was all hidden behind his brood. He curled on himself and tensed, flexing his abdominals into the eggs and feeling the weight of them, the slight give of their shells, and that was all it took for his ears to buzz and his whole body to tremor into orgasm, bucking against his own hand.

He almost sank down after that, but turned, edging a little to the right so he could lay on his opposite side and breathe his way through the aftershocks. After much deliberation, he slid his pants down over his hips and shook his legs to get them free, then cleaned the residual wet from his legs and slit, dropping the pants over the edge of his bed. For a little while, he lay there, naked and open and watching the ceiling, rubbing little circles around his navel to massage his waiting brood. And then he dragged his blankets back up, content and warm and still so very full, and slept.


	3. Chapter 3

Tai woke in late morning to sounds downstairs, meaning his mother was home, which meant it was her day off and Tai wouldn’t have a chance to leave the house without an interrogation. And, being that he was currently pregnant with a brood of several dozen eggs, he couldn’t exactly take his usual route of clambering out his window and onto the porch roof to get down to the street. Hell, he didn’t even have any clothes that fit aside from one or two overlarge T-shirts he’d borrowed from a fuckbuddy and never thought to give back, his hoodie, and a couple pairs of pajama bottoms. And he couldn’t go out and buy new clothes- or… well, he could, he just really, really didn’t want to. He’d been working his nightly retail job for what felt like forever, saving up money to try and move out, but he never really felt comfortable with the idea, not even after he had a few thousand dollars to his name and counting. One slip-up meant some problem he couldn’t fix or rent he couldn’t make, and the idea of having to crawl back to his parents- who he figured hated him as much as a parent could- was a hundred times worse than taking their shit before the inevitable fuck-up.

So he dealt with it. He rolled himself out of bed in the most ungainly manner, still not used to the weight, and reached for his hoodie, but his discarded pajama botttoms from the night before gave him pause and made him realize how gross he felt. Probably there was still dried come on his legs from the creature, not to mention his hasty cleanup after his masturbation. He felt sticky with old sweat, and a few smudges of dirt still colored the heels of his palms. Fuck, he probably even had pine needles stuck in his hair.

What he was, was a right mess.

He waddled over to his clean laundry, digging for a new pair of pants and that T-shirt, grabbed his hoodie, and found a clean binder, boxers and towel. Then, with some trepidation, he bent- slowly and awkwardly, and using his bed as a brace- to pick up the used pajamas. He did have to sit down to actually get them on, but he managed that and his shirt from the day before, just to keep any awkward hallway encounters from being awkward, _naked_ hallway encounters.

Gathering his clothes and towel in front of him, he knew there would be a throwdown if anyone saw- his pregnant belly pooched out obviously under the thin fabric, even as he tried to hide it. But he swallowed his fear, overlaid it with a spiky mental shield of ready anger, and slipped into the hall as quietly as he could.

Nothing. The TV in the living room blared a soap opera, and Tai wasted no time in bolting- or rather, bumbling- toward the bathroom and locking the door behind him. Safe, for now. As soon as he turned the water on, his mom would know, so that wouldn’t be pleasant, but he could at least get clean.

He slid his pants down over his hips and stepped out of them, then pulled his shirt off. He stepped into the shower, avoiding looking in mirrors mostly from habit, and soon the warm water rushed over him. Fuck, it felt so good. It drummed on his skin and beat away the dirt and mess of the last day, and he took the time to soap up, scrubbing every inch of himself he could reach, until his tawny skin pinked. He washed his hair and even managed, with extreme ingenuity and a loofah with a suction cup on its string, to get to the spots on his back he’d missed.

He cleaned his nethers delicately, too, and for the first time in a while, _didn’t_ continue down that track and get himself off. In fact, by the time he was done cleaning, he was content- as much as he could be- and only stood in the heat of the water for a few minutes more before shutting it off and grabbing his towel.

Whether because he was finally getting acclimatized to the weight, or because he didn’t feel so disgusting and slime-caked, he thought maybe he wasn’t doing so bad. Sure, he still had to try and sneak out of the house because fuck talking to his parents at all, even without being pregnant, but as much as he could, and with a small voice in the back of his head still bitching about how stupid he’d been in the first place that he was trying to ignore, he was dealing with it.

He could just… keep dealing with it. One day at a time had never steered him wrong before- he was still alive and kicking, after all- and all he had to do was keep going.

One day at a time.

But first, he had to get dressed, and soon he began to realize how much of a pain it was going to be. The boxers weren’t so bad, even if he had to sit on the closed toilet to get his feet into them and they could only sit below the curve of his belly. After that, he struggled into his binder, which was a thousand times more dickish. Being that it was nylon-spandex, and double-layered, it didn’t have much stretch to begin with, and since it was a full tank top rather than his shorter, chest-only kind, he had to step into it and pull the whole thing over his distended stomach. He stretched and strained and struggled, inching it over himself, and it squeezed horribly where it bunched, making him frantically pull it flatter. But finally, finally, he got his arms into it and adjusted it a bit higher, making sure his breasts flattened comfortably.

Probably it wasn’t the best thing to do, he had to admit to himself, squishing his stomach and the brood like that. But it was the only thing he could think of to mitigate the swell of his belly even if it meant he had to suffer slightly for it. With the tightness over his stomach and his full womb protesting the shift, it felt like it spread, putting pressure on his hips and chest. It gave him a couple fewer inches of belly to have to hide, but made his breathing more shallow than normal, and he was absolutely sure his back would hurt like a bitch after a while. He’d just… have to take it slow. Get used to it all over again.

Sitting was definitely worse, the usual, gentler press of his body altered with how much it had been constricted. He briefly felt sick as he leaned to pull on his pants, the eggs forcing themselves uncomfortably against his insides like a very slow gut-punch, and had to wait for the nausea and pinching pain to pass before standing up and pulling them on the rest of the way. The drawstrings he had to tie over his navel so the pants wouldn’t slip beneath the curve of his belly- not that it would matter since it couldn’t be seen under his hoodie anyway- but he was afraid they’d just straight fall off, and so dealt with that pinch over his stomach too.

He sighed, rubbing his taut belly and more definitely feeling the shapes of the mass inside him. They weren’t quite clearly defined, but if he used just a little more force, he could feel the curve of one, and the smaller end of another here and there. He rubbed his knuckles back and forth on one side, then switched hands, and finally pressed both palms under his stomach and massaged up and down over his navel.

“Ugh,” he mumbled to himself. “So much for the honeymoon.”

 

He stayed in the bathroom for as long as he could, until most of the steam from his shower was gone, but he could still hear a clattering or the television every so often. His mother must be waiting for him. He did not want that right now. But he couldn’t just stay stuck in his room for however many days- or weeks, he thought, swallowing hard- he was like this. He’d have to just stay away.

Settled, but unsettled, he gathered up his laundry in front of himself again, letting his towel hang a bit more. He looked at himself in the mirror, grimaced, scrubbed a hand through his hair… then gave one last slide of his hand over his swollen belly before slipping as quietly as he could back out into the hallway. The quick rush to his door had him out of breath, but there was no shout from downstairs, so he closed his door and breathed, wincing, rubbing his chest and belly. _Stop being so damn tense! You’ll fuckin’ kill yourself with that shit._

Taking another few moments to try and stretch- still tight and uncomfortable with all that constricted weight- Tai solidified his plan. And then he shoved his laundry into a basket and pulled his old backpack from his closet, tossing it on his bed. What clothes he thought would fit him came next, socks, underwear, phone charger- with that, he wouldn’t need a laptop. A couple bits and bobs here and there, and in perhaps fifteen minutes, he was set and packed. Which was maybe a little depressing, how quickly he could get anything and everything he thought he might need- including a stash of cash he’d hidden in a chapstick tube- for an indeterminate amount of time. Thankfully, it wasn’t as if he needed to quit his job and go cross-country. He was only going to get the cheapest motel he could and try to keep working to offset the cost, mourning his savings all the while. But he wasn’t going to give himself a choice. He could either get ragged on and feel _more_ like shit for ages, or he could go off and do what he wanted himself and at least spare more mental anguish.

He hefted his bag onto his shoulder, paused, then grabbed another coat despite the late-spring warmth outside. This he draped over his arm- just for cover- before finally making his way back downstairs, hanging onto the wall for balance. Oof, the brood did just want him to fall flat on his face. He paused briefly, squatting, trying to readjust, but gave up and kept going.

As he crossed into the living room, his mother’s voice raised. “Ma _til_ da Gifford, what-!”

Tai winced, waddling onward. “Can’t talk, gotta go to work!” he called back, only to hear her footsteps on the laminate kitchen floor.

“Where were you for two days, Matilda?” his mom continued, stepping into the living room. He could feel her eyes boring into him, and kept his back to her, clutching at his coat.

“ _Tai_ ,” he said in return, opening the front door. “An’ I wasn’t, you weren’t home when I got back, I gotta go!”

“That is not an excuse, Ma-til-da,” his mom spat back, deliberately emphasizing that name. “You’re so irresponsible, I can’t even- _look at me when I’m talking to you_ \- you were at a party, weren’t you, you always smell like booze or drugs, and- Matilda, I’m not done!”

Tai shut the door behind himself, closing it on his mother’s rant, and she didn’t follow as he walked out and onto the street. God did she like to pretend she cared what he was doing. She hadn’t even bothered to ask about his job when he first got it, or assume anything other than that he was trash, which… well, just because he thought he was a pretty garbage person didn’t mean she got to think it. His parents at least kept from rifling through his stuff- not that they’d find anything but a half-empty box of condoms and a pornhub search. The last party he had gone to, maybe six months ago, he’d drunk a shot and a half, promptly threw up, and spent the rest of the night outside, playing Bejeweled. Hell, the one time he’d tried pot, it was a cookie, and he had such a bad trip he’d thought he’d fallen asleep on the edge of an alien, desert cliff when really he’d just been exposed to too much of The Fifth Element while laying too close to the edge of a high-pile rug.

So he’d kinda sworn off most of what Kids His Age™ should apparently be doing and focused on getting out of his parents’ house. He wasn’t sure whether he was grateful or not that they were more worried about peoples’ perception of them than what _he_ would do, otherwise they’d have surely kicked him out six years ago, right on his 18th birthday.

Tai slowed, shaking off those thoughts, and stopped to breathe. His brood was still uncomfortably tight, but he couldn’t do anything about that until he got a motel room. And he couldn’t keep up walking like this while his belly was so heavy. He caught several shallow breaths, then pulled his hood up and walked one more block, taking his time in crossing the street to the bus stop headed north, knowing that further outside the city would be cheaper. He did stand until the bus pulled up, but as soon as he was on, he thought better of it. And apparently, someone else did, too, a guy with headphones on glancing up and immediately standing. Tai sighed gratefully and carefully sat down, leaning as far back as he could so the eggs wouldn’t constrict any more.

The grimace on his face and subtle rubbing alongside his navel must have deterred any questions; he rode outside city limits without a question of his condition, and only a silently offered hand when the bus stopped at his signal. That made it much easier to get up, and he mumbled a thanks before waddling his way off the bus and watching it continue on its way.

***

The next several days were torture. With how suddenly the pregnancy had come on, Tai could only call into work, feigning sickness by laying on his motel bed and hanging his head backward off the edge. It made him sound all rough and congested, but he knew he’d also have to get a doctor’s note, which… didn’t look like it was in the cards. So here he was, bleeding out his savings, living on continental breakfast and microwave dinners and delivery, and the worst part was that he was doing it while passing as female. It was too uncomfortable to even try and keep his smaller binder on, and his belly had grown even more over the few nights, so it was all awkward and terrible all over again.

Hell, he’d even spent a whole day doing nothing but sitting or laying around, trying to be comfortable, which just ended in him finally falling into an irritated sleep, arms curled around his stomach and face pinched.

The fourth day in, his hoodie barely fit him anymore; he had to struggle to get it on, and even the pajama bottoms he’d defaulted to wearing weren’t sitting as well. But he was getting antsy. He wanted to _do_ something. In fact, he desperately wanted to walk, that being his default contemplative state.

He finally gave in almost a week after he’d checked into the motel, having to leave his now ill-fitting hoodie behind and barely managing a pair of pants. For a moment, he considered his binder, and a well of anxiety rose within him at the thought of leaving it behind. But the last time he’d tried it, he’d been so unable to breathe he nearly passed out halfway through the day, and even the lone sports bra he’d kept as an absolute last resort wasn’t of use. So, begrudgingly, he left them aside and pulled his coat on to at least try and conceal his breasts. And then he walked.

Or, in this case, waddled. With the days that had passed, he’d gotten bigger, but he’d been trying to keep it under wraps. And now that he couldn’t, he saw how big he actually was. The soccer ball he looked like he’d eaten had swollen to something more like a beach ball, dragging at him and laden full of eggs. His back hurt, although his chest didn’t as much- a small miracle- as his legs started to prick with the same pain, still unused to carrying such weight.

He stopped several times, just to let his legs and back have a rest, and to try and rub his brood into submission.

“C’mon,” he complained lowly at them, massaging the side of his stomach with his knuckles as he leaned and held himself up with his other hand. “Gimme a break.”

And yet with a sigh, he levered himself up, groaning and trying to adjust his hips, and meandered on.

Usually, when he walked he could do it for hours or miles, whichever came first. Despite his compulsion, however, he gave up after maybe only half a mile, when he’d discovered a park nestled just on the other side of a low hill. A stand of trees petered out around its deserted center, and he could see what was probably the finger of a larger stream running at the side of the road, headed the opposite direction from the ocean.

Tai claimed one of the empty benches next to the play park, listening to the slight breeze shift the swings’ metal chains. And yet, somehow, he still couldn’t be comfortable. It was like he was still wearing his binder, the whole of him heavy and squeezed and achy. He tried to adjust, leaning from one side to the other, pressing on his firm abdomen and trying to get the brood to shift.

No luck, and by then, he’d tried leaning over, too, or back as far as he could, stretching, and yet the feeling persisted. With a tired groan, he stood, turning so he could support himself on the back of the bench and lean forward to let his belly hang. It was… a little better, but the relief was short-lived. He swayed on his feet, which helped and then didn’t, so he spread his legs further and swayed some more, which helped and then didn’t.

“Nnh,” he breathed. It was like… cramps, or like he’d been fucked too hard and his body was trying to compensate. He straightened, rubbing his belly with a bit too much force, and focused on walking and feeling the tense muscles underneath his hand. Walking helped a little, and he made a circle of the park, then started back the way he came.

He made it to where the paved path dwindled, signs posted for day hikers at the edge of the stand of trees. And then his belly clenched hard enough that he exhaled in a rush, wincing and doubling over. “Ah, fuck… what- calm down, jesus.” His hips felt like he had a bowling ball rested on them, and his inner thighs burned with heat, making him feel feverish. He rubbed low on his stomach, trying to ease the pressure, but his body wasn’t having it. Another clench of muscle and the eggs jostled, Tai’s brood settling low in his gut and buckling his knees. He caught himself, but standing upright didn’t feel like a thing he could do anymore. He needed- he didn’t know what he needed besides to sit down, and not to sit down here.

 _Something_ drew him past the tree line. Maybe the lesser potential for people to see him like this. Maybe the sound of the trickling water, or the cooler shadow of the trees. Whatever it was, Tai followed the feeling, breathing, hunched low and slow, and having to stop with each tingling ache that came upon him.

He didn’t keep count. But he hadn’t made it very far before the pressure of that bowling ball doubled, and he winced as something deep inside him, under all the eggs of his brood, pulled and pinched, and a fullness welled between his legs. He shuddered, doubling over and leaning against a tree trunk, forehead pressed hard into his arm. His other, clasped over his stomach, felt the shift, and the weight increased again, drawing a long, pained moan from his mouth. His abdomen clenched, and he swayed, trying to find some form of comfort, but it only served to make him dizzy.

Finally, he tried the last thing he could, bearing down on the pressure as it built and burned under his skin. And then, with an ooze of honeylike goo, an egg the size of a softball slipped out of him, quickly followed by two others.

Sweating, panting, he breathed- or tried to. Fuck. Here, _now_? He was all alone! Not that he wasn’t used to dealing with shit on his own. And he couldn’t exactly go to anyone for help, but he could have at least been at the motel, on the bed or in the fucking bathtub or something, not-

That thought was interrupted by another twinge, the eggs trapped by his boxers left with nowhere to go and more eggs on the way. Shakily, Tai plucked at the drawstrings at his waist, shoving his hand down to pull each egg free individually. With nowhere to put them, he relinquished his other arm and held his shirt like a hammock over his belly, depositing the slick eggs inside. Halfway through, another contraction rocked him, but he clamped his legs shut. Not yet. He squeezed his eyes shut, then reopened them. The creature- his tentacled fuckbuddy- had been near water. So why the fuck not?

Tai clamped down on two more contractions, shivering mightily as the eggs hung low in him, before making it to the edge of the water. Unsure of what else to do with the eggs in his shirt, he dumped them into the creek, where their translucent forms quickly blended into the stream bed. Immediately after, though, another contraction gripped him, and this time he couldn’t help but bear down into it, groaning.

That same thick-feeling weight pushed at him, and he cocked his shaking knees out, spread wide by another round of his brood and clinging to a free for balance. Two more eggs gushed out of him, then another three forced those out of the way and they fell, rolling down the pant leg of Tai’s pajamas.

He shuddered, reaching down to retrieve the eggs and tiredly underhanding them into the stream, where they settled against the bottom. Again, a contraction, and another egg settled in Tai’s boxers before joining the others. But he was too tired to keep that up, and took a couple more steps, toeing the other eggs down the bank. He leaned up against a tree whose roots delved into the sandy soil right at the edge of the water, and rode out another contraction, which passed two more eggs that he pushed down his pant legs and into the water.

Only then could he shove his pants down, the waistband wide enough that they fell fully to his ankles, and slide down to sit. He shook, trying and failing to reach his pants, then gave up and leaned back, kicking them free of his feet.

Another contraction. He pushed, straining, but only one egg popped free. His belly still felt huge, the eggs having settled low and hungry for release. His hips ached, and his knees shook as he held them wide and another contraction struck. This time, no egg at all appeared, though Tai felt so full and stretched, and swayed to try and help relieve it.

Yet another contraction came, this time producing two eggs as Tai bore down. He felt hot and sweaty, panting and sore and upset. _Just be done already!_ Tears on his face, he sunk further and finally shifted to lay down, already exhausted, as another spasm took hold of him and produced another single egg.

“Please,” he begged, clasping his hands under his sagging belly. “Come on, please.”

His abdomen constricted and he raised his knees, dragging his feet up and opening himself wide. He pushed.

The eggs’ honey-thick lubrication oozed, and they popped free in a rush, six, then another five piling on top of each other. Tai breathed out hard, sobbing and clutching at his stomach. Thank fuck.

The next few contractions pressed in at his sides and belly, squeezing him, and with each one, he put as much force into pushing as he could. Half a dozen eggs spurted from him, then another three. Once, one of the oval shapes lodged sideways, and it took four rounds of hard breathing, his hands clamped under his knees and hanging on, to get it free, and with it came another dozen.

But the rest, for what they were worth, delivered with relative ease, piling up on the previous sets and tumbling some into the water or off to one side. Tai, too busy with his contractions and breathing and the rush of each birthed set, left them alone.

Each contraction seemed to take ages. Tai’s muscles clamped down on his shrinking womb, jostling the eggs from behind his cervix and filling his birth canal with their ovoid bodies. He pushed, shoving the eggs past his tight muscles, the first of each set always feeling as if it may just be stuck. But then it breached, and the rest of the fraction of his brood followed in its wake.

Eventually, the contractions lessened and began to feel more like simple cramps. Tai bore down, and three more eggs slipped free. A push saw the advent of five more shells before he dropped his legs, arms splayed over his much flattened belly, and the brood laid out beneath him. He breathed, wincing and tender, and let himself settle, although one last cramp had him pushing his last two eggs free before finally letting him rest.

He didn’t keep track of how long he lay on the bank, only summoning enough effort to pull his coat tight around him and breathe.


	4. Chapter 4

Tai felt… he didn’t really know how he felt. It had been over three weeks since he’d gone back to the river and laid- no… birthed?- those eggs. Once he was sure he was totally empty of them, he pushed those that hadn’t rolled into the water beyond the banks, where their translucent bodies disappeared into the stones and ripples. And then that was it, he waited for his body to stop resisting trying to stand, and just walked back to the hotel and slept, exhausted. 

He did eventually go home, staying the one last night he’d had to pay for since he hadn’t checked out on time, and now there he was, back to work, back under the thumbs of his parents like nothing had ever happened, the feeling of the pregnancy already dwindling in his mind.

It was like he’d never fucked that thing- the thing that he’d simply decided was either some weird water creature or a straight up alien. He’d never fucked it, never been impregnated with its dozens-strong brood, never spent the days carrying them as they jostled inside his womb. He’d never birthed them.

That was what it was. He felt _empty_.

And not just empty of the eggs, but lacking the feel of being impregnated. The tentacles spreading him, delving so deep they felt as if they pressed up under his ribs. Their gentle thrusts, the slide of them against skin. Tai had even tried going to bed with one of his fuckbuddies who had a toy so big Tai couldn’t even take it all the way, and despite the night- and most of the morning, actually- it just wasn’t the same.

He tried what he could, even going so far as to end up lubed up and sitting on the edge of his bed, a lengthy dildo buried in his ass, another deep in his slit and a vibe against his clit. He rocked into the toys, bearing down and fucking himself in time with the vibrations. And he came- god, did he ever- his body shivering and convulsing all at once, ears ringing with the sensation. But then after…? After, it was just him, slipping the cocks from between his legs, washing them and stashing them back in the box under his bed, and still he was left with that emptiness.

The notion occurred to him as he was stacking boxes at work. He’d gotten a text and swiped it away, leaving his previous calls displayed on screen, and that was when he saw Michael’s name. The beginning of his most recent text cut off, but Tai remembered it as thanks for the little pendant he’d given Michael’s sister, Lily, for Valentine’s Day, so she’d have more than Michael’s little gift as a treat. Michael, who Tai trusted enough to let himself owe things. Tai despised owing people anything, but the thing about it was that Michael expected Tai to pay him back. Not that he found it necessary, of course, but he didn’t refuse Tai’s attempts, and that let them sit on much more even ground with each other as far as Tai was concerned. Sure, Michael did him favors sometimes, but he never refused Tai’s willingness to bring him food or give him money in exchange.

Tai could trust Michael. He wouldn’t even have to explain that much, he could just… say he needed this, borrow the couch, throw some money at Michael, and ride out a new pregnancy without his parents even knowing. Not that they would care anyway. And Michael would think it was weird, but what sane person wouldn’t? Tai would have a lot of explaining to do, probably, but the thought of being able to feel that full again made his hips twinge, and he didn’t even bother putting his phone away.

[Hey u got a sec sometime i can come by?]

By the time his shift was over and he’d left his uniform shirt hung up in the employee break room, he’d gotten a response. [Sure. I just got home, actually, so if you can pop by, go ahead. Lily’s not here, though]

[Sweet that’s fine be there soon]

WIth that, Tai practically skipped his way out of the store.

 

***

Michael was an interesting person. He seemed perfect, with his blonde hair and decent apartment all to himself, and his almost holier-than-thou bearing. But Tai knew his dirty secrets, and really, that was probably the only reason they were friends.

There was Lily, of course, but she was a fixture in a different sort of way, living under more constant care than Michael could give her. He still visited her every day, but her mental state was too fragile for one man to handle, mature as he may be. Occasionally, she’d have a weekend away from her institution, hence the apartment that Michael shouldn’t be able to afford.

But the other reason was a bit simpler- like Tai, Michael was transgender. And despite the knock-down, drag-out fight that had started their acquaintance, said relationship stuck around just because they knew what the other was going through. This secret between them gave them something to talk about, something to bitch at each other about so that the other could bitch right back. ‘Fucking right?’ ‘Jesus, don’t I know it?’ hence summed up their friendship. And really, it was a pretty good one.

Despite having not talked in maybe three months, Michael might actually be Tai’s best friend. Theirs was the sort of friendship where they could go a week texting and talking, playing games online, and then suddenly drop off the face of the earth, only to come back even months later like no time at all had passed. Tai was okay with it, because he knew he was a fucking chore, and sometimes he and Michael didn’t see eye-to-eye on things, but most of the time, either one of them would just walk away to simmer down, and then they’d be fine.

So when Tai got to Michael’s apartment, it wasn’t weird to press the buzzer and chirp a quick “hey, it’s me,” into the speaker. The door buzzed, and Tai pulled it open, heading up a couple floors to the hall, where he found the door propped open.

“Too lazy to answer anything but the speaker, I see how it is.” Tai kicked the doorstop out of the way and let the door close, setting aside his backpack and stepping on the heels of his shoes to get out of them.

“I’d rather make it seem like you invited yourself in.” Michael’s voice came from the kitchen, where he was putting dishes away, and Tai went around the corner to face him across the high counter looking in from the living room.

“Hey, boo,” he said, smirking as Michael turned pink across his nose and proceeded to ignore him.

“Did you drop by just to watch me do chores?” he said, looking down his very pink nose at Tai after several long, quiet moments.

“Naaah,” Tai replied, waving a hand. “I was actually thinkin’ I needed to ask you a favor, ‘cause there’s this thing I wanna do but y’know my parents, they’d have a shitfit, an’ I can’t work either so I’d just be kinda stuck around.”

Michael arranged a few forks neatly in a counter drawer as Tai spoke. “O…kay? Should I even ask?”

“I mean…” Tai said, tapping his fingers on the countertop. “Y’probably don’t wanna know, I know how you get about stuff.”

Michael snorted.

“I’m serious! Look, it ain’t a big deal, it’ll be a little while and whatever, and I’m gonna be pregnant for like a week or two or something but after that I’ll get back to work-”

It took about that long for Michael to catch up with what Tai was saying. “Wait, what? You’re going to be _what_?!”

“Uh. Pregnant, but it’s okay, seriously uh. Like I said it’ll only be for a bit and-”

“You’re _planning_ on it but not having it?”

Tai bit his lip. “Do I have to explain it? ‘Cause it’s prob’ly like super weird and you prob’ly don’t wanna know.”

Michael made a face. Tai wasn’t sure what type of face it was, but it was scrunched and looked like he’d not only smelled something vile but also stepped in it. “…Guess I don’t,” he finally said. “Whatever. Your business.”

Which sounded kind of flat, and that made Tai wonder if he was actually okay with it, or whether he was just going along with it because- well. Tai was stubborn and he knew it, but Michael wasn’t exactly a pushover either. He sighed. “I’ll get my own food, or like… pay you or something, I dunno. I’ll owe you anyhow, like. A lot. You know I hate owing people-”

“I know.”

“Yeah, but you ain’t so bad. So… Thanks. I mean, I ain’t gonna force you or anything, you can kick me out an’ I’ll go.”

“No, it’s… fine. Don’t worry about it.”

Tai looked at him. Michael looked back, and somehow Tai could see he meant it, despite the secrecy. He hesitated. “You’re-”

“I’m sure.” Michael interrupted. “It’s fine, seriously. Lily’s not going to be around for a little while, and I’ll stay uninvolved. As long as it doesn’t go really weird, it’s better than you being on the street.”

“Sure, right. I’ll just steal your couch and it’ll be fine. Hell, maybe it…” This- and, weirdly, Michael definitely not being okay with it but letting him do it anyway- was the part he wasn’t sure how to feel about. What if he went back to that place and nothing was there? Was he expecting too much to just drop by and find that creature? He guessed he’d find out. “Maybe it won’t happen. I dunno.”

“Tai.”

“Hm?”

“Just… stop talking.”

“Don’t tell me what to do, blondie.”

“This is my house, and I’ll-”

“I was kidding. Seriously, man.”

Michael sighed. Tai, meanwhile, grinned.

“Wanna play PUBG?”

***

Not to waste any time after a month and a half without going to the river, Tai packed a small bag the next morning. He shoved in an extra set of baggy clothes, a couple towels, a washcloth, his keys and wallet, just enough to get him by. After another minutes’ thought, he added a couple granola bars, not knowing how long he’d be gone.

“Okay, I’m leavin’,” he called, leaving his larger bag next to the couch he’d slept on. He’d even gone so far as to fold the blanket he’d used and put it and the pillow aside to keep the couch useful.

“Sure,” Michael called back, without leaving his room.

“Be back whenever, don’t wait up, love ya boo!” Tai chuckled, letting the door close behind him and cutting off Michael’s shout, whatever it was.

He was still a ways away from the place he’d originally seen the creature, a decent walk as it was and one he definitely wouldn’t be able to make when pregnant. Thankfully, he’d left early enough to manage to get there before late afternoon, so he’d have time to rest before it got too dark and he had to ride the bus back. He could probably have asked Michael for a ride, but that was a little more than he wanted to owe.

So he meandered along, enjoying the early-autumn warmth; leaves had started to fall, but the sun wasn’t of the mind to hide quite yet so Tai didn’t even bother wearing his jacket, pausing to instead stuff it into his bag. He walked for a good while down side streets, then got onto a busier road, which he crossed. From there, he made his way down another quiet street that ended in a cul-de-sac and a gravel path cut into blackberry bushes and undergrowth topped with a few pine trees.

This was the same path he’d taken the first time, and he followed it again until the gravel faded into a less-walked path between trees and alongside the creek’s edge. It was about there that he started scanning the ground and bushes, and even the water, looking for the bluish-green translucent form of the creature he’d found.

Along the bank to a wider, calmer part of the bed. Nothing.

Back down the other side, and headed toward the lake… also nothing.

He wasn’t desperate yet, not having expected anything to be there anyway, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t disappointed. He stepped over a couple rocks sticking from the water to cross back over, and went a little further downstream.

As it turned out, the bit of land he’d picked was just a sandbar, cut off on either side by what was left of the creek. It hadn’t rained the past few days, which explained the low water, and might have explained Tai having found none of the creatures. Maybe, even, there was only one. Maybe it had been eaten, or moved somewhere else, or died. Maybe it really wasn’t supposed to be in a creek, and found its way back to the ocean.

He sighed, stepping onto another rock and firmer land, avoiding a wetter and no doubt slicker patch of-

Tai paused, turning to get a better look. To his left there was what looked like a rockfall, a bit of higher bank that had tumbled into the low riverbed, and situated sort of between a stone and that larger formation was a large, rather gooey-looking, jellyfish-shaped thing. Tai stared.

He tossed his bag down, then clambered up the side of the bank, getting his bearings. He wasn’t terribly far from where he’d encountered the first creature, nor from an easy walk back, so he hopped down from the ledge again and dug in his backpack for one of the towels. As he did so, a little thought pinged in the back of his mind, whispering at him and asking whether or not he knew if the creature was poisonous or something. What if this one ate him?

“Pfft, it barely has a mouth,” he said out loud to himself, not sure of that statement. It… _looked_ like the one he’d seen before, maybe a little darker in color, but that didn’t really mean anything. He did at least hesitate at the thought, but Tai had a one-track mind. And if he did get poisoned, who would miss him anyway?

He shook that thought off as he shook out the towel, spreading it maybe a foot from the creature. Next, he kicked off his shoes and stuffed his socks into them, pushing them aside. And then he pulled off his pants, wadding them up on top of his shoes. He left his binder on- this one was more like a tighter sports bra, so easier to deal with- and his shirt and boxers, and then sat down on the towel.

Waited.

The creature didn’t move.

Tai hesitated, then pushed himself forward onto his knees, and reached out a hand, stopping an inch or so from the gelatinous skin. “H… hey, so…” he started, figuring it couldn’t hear. The words at least made _him_ feel better.

He let his fingers brush its skin; it felt like a damp mousepad, a little rubbery and textured, and firm. It contracted slightly from his hand, but not entirely like a sea anemone would. More just an acknowledgement that it had been touched. Tai ran his hand down its body to where the rubbery flesh met its more voluminous skirt-like bottom. That part was a little slicker and softer, and when he touched it, it bloomed outward instead, sort of suckering itself to the roughage around it.

“Well jeez, fine,” Tai huffed, curious and weirdly not as angry as he felt like he should be. Maybe instead he should just… stay still. He was just sitting before.  
So he sat back off his knees, then shifted a little so he was laying on his side, and thought better again, reaching to remove his boxers and toss them to lay with his pants. He raised one knee, opening himself up a little but not uncomfortably, and then he waited.

The sound of the water was nice; he hadn’t brought his headphones this time, so it and the rest of his surroundings were all the entertainment he had. A bird flitted through the branches of a brown-leafed tree, chirped, and then disappeared into the underbrush. Tai could barely make out a waterskipper in the lee of one of the rocks in quieter water.

He’d closed his eyes after a while, not sleeping but also not fully awake. Then he felt something slick touch his calf, and jumped, drawing a quick breath and glancing at the spot. The creature had reached out to him with a small tentacle, its skirt no longer clinging to the surface below it and allowing the appendage to explore. Tai still wasn’t sure if it was searching by smell or by heat or what, but it had found him, and as he continued to remain still, the single tentacle continued to explore.

It felt its way up his leg, pausing briefly to check his other one before returning to its path under the back of his knee and across his thigh. Tai shuddered, but it went along, unfazed, until it found the fold of his leg and hip. Whatever it found there, as it nestled into the valley, seemed to coax it further; two more appendages followed the first, joining it with a little more speed than the first exploration.

“Yeah,” Tai breathed, tilting his knee and sliding his foot to give a better guide. “You know you wanna.”

With the warmth of him open and inviting, the tentacles didn’t need to ponder over the rest of his body. A fourth did meander from beneath the skirt, replacing one of the others as it climbed higher, drawn to Tai’s chest and neck, then his face, although he tilted his head away from it. While that one slid over Tai’s shoulder and side, the other three considered the much closer option. One touched the inside of Tai’s warm thigh, and then the heat and damp of his slit, and for a moment he wasn’t sure whether it would actually go in.

But then the others came alongside it as if to encourage it further, and it slipped in like a smooth finger, its equally smooth brothers following it. It felt sort of lukewarm and wiggly, but not so filling as it could be. Each little tendril curled around individually, the sensation giving Tai a little shiver as his body reacted with fluids to slick them up.

Tai watched the three fingerling tentacles where they delved into him, glancing back at the body of the creature. Had it gotten darker? Or was it just because he was at a different angle? One of the tentacles curled as far as it could into him, and Tai squirmed against them, causing them to squirm back. He giggled, a rare thing for him, but the feeling of them, and the anticipation, was already starting to grow. One quick pulse, and a little bit of heat throbbed into him; the appendages squirmed again, pulling almost all the way out, and Tai could see a little slick, silvery fluid coating them.

“You like that?” he murmured at the creature, its fourth tentacle retreating from his chest, though not completely. A fifth poked from under its body by a few inches, but otherwise didn’t move.

And then a sixth tip came from under it, larger than the others. Tai’s breath caught as one of the tentacles in him pressed upward, sliding against his inner flesh, and as the rest of the larger tentacle crept its way toward him. It was maybe three times the size of the other appendages, slightly bulbous at its tip, and a little less translucent. Casually, it found its way along the inside of Tai’s leg, sliding along his calf and knee, then his thigh. Daintily, it seemed to consider his slit, where the other three tentacles still lay. It gently touched his skin, seeming unperturbed by his pubic hair, and used the guide of its smaller counterparts to ease its way into Tai, lubed by their sticky warmth.

 _This_ was what he remembered. The feeling of fullness as the larger tentacle inched deeper into him, the others flattening to make room. The way it just kept going, its head long gone and the rest of it squeezing in behind. This creature didn’t seem as active as the last, the way it found what it was looking for and took it. Then again, there had been obstacles in the other one’s way that Tai had removed himself, his legs naked, cocked and ready for the creature to do what it would.

Tai watched the large tentacle squirm its way into him, not curling or twisting but working its way as far as it could go, til no more could press in. And then it sat, and Tai watched, unable to stop himself from wiggling once so he could lay more comfortably, the tentacles slick and shifting just enough to ease into a better position. 

At least the eggs weren’t a surprise this time. The first slid through the tentacle from beneath the gelatinous skirt and toward Tai, and he watched it come closer, then a second follow not long after. However, there was no way for Tai to tell how many eggs it actually had. Being so close to the creature’s actual body left only about a foot of the tentacle between them, and so Tai could only see those couple bulges appear at once, the first already eased against his slit while the other came up behind it, making the smooth tentacle look bulbous and awkward.

The creature expanded, and the beginnings of a third lump slid out from under it. Tai felt the pressure of the first egg and cocked his hips, bearing down a little so that when the creature contracted and the smaller tentacles slid out, the egg slid forward a little easier. And in fact, this one felt easier all around, its body still rubbery and large enough that when Tai squeezed and it slipped in with the help of the smaller appendages, it filled him full, but it didn’t feel so awkwardly _round_ , more tapered, more as if it was shaped _to_ fill him.

He rotated his hips, feeling himself close around the smaller end of the egg and it slide further, pressed on by its helper digits. The tip of the larger tentacle rested as deep inside Tai as it could go, and the curve of the egg met it there, the bulbous end expanding around the first of its clutch and helped along by the second egg that was already passing into Tai’s waiting slit. The press pinched and stung; Tai could feel it in his belly as the tentacle retreated slightly, pushing the egg against Tai’s cervix. As the egg edged out of its tip, the tentacle contracted, then slid forward again, forcing the broad end of the egg’s shell through the opening. Tai squirmed, but once the egg’s broadest section had been slid through, the rest followed with a satisfying slipping feeling.

“Nnh,” Tai breathed, the third egg forcing the second into him and in fact following halfway, so that as the second was shoved against his cervix, the third held him wide open around it. He shuddered, managing a breathy demand of “gimme all of ‘em” before he came.

As soon as the second had slid deliciously into his womb, the third was on its tail, a fourth and fifth lining up, and yet another appearing. The tentacle, now, was completely irregular, domed out with the shapes of its brood without any gaps between. Tai felt the third, and then the fourth in quick succession, and before he could get too big, rolled onto his stomach.

With the fifth egg lodged in him, the tentacles stayed firmly in place, allowing him to push himself to all fours. As soon as he’d pillowed his head on his arms, knees spread as far as they would go, two more eggs slipped into him, one right after the other, and a third halted in him while another after that tried to press in.

Tai reached back, his fingers grazing the smaller, working tentacles before touching the larger one, its form harder under his hand. He felt the expansion through its skin, and then the contraction that moved the eggs, which made it pull back slightly so the most recent could push its way into Tai’s womb and another could make the short journey.

Expansion, contraction, movement and fullness and the slip of an egg, and the feeling of his belly becoming taut and rounded with his brood. Each expansion felt like a breath, the creature pushing its life force into him with a measured stroke. Tai could time this one; an expansion, and Tai leaned just a little. A contraction, and Tai pushed back, forcing the eggs forward with a quickness that made him curl against himself. He only managed it once, too overwhelmed with the feeling of those two eggs pushing into his womb one right after the other, and instead pushed his forehead against his arm and let the tentacle do its work.

And here, the way he’d situated himself, he could turn his head and see his belly, watch as each egg slowly found its way into his ever-expanding womb. Those that ballooned the tentacle looked like large ovoid oranges, though as they passed through him and settled in his belly, they felt softer than that, at least marginally. The pressure was still slightly uncomfortable, but nothing Tai couldn’t get around, especially as he watched his belly grow. The differences weren’t immediately apparent, but after four or five, and then eight or nine eggs, Tai could see the curve of his abdomen, watch as it began to overtake his view of the tentacle slowly working in and out of him. And after the first dozen, he could barely reach to feel the appendage buried in him at all, its foamy membrane still distended with yet more of its brood.

Tai finally lost count somewhere around a dozen and a half, his belly hung low- still not touching the ground, but only a few inches away. His hips hurt a little, and he adjusted his knees higher- the next egg took an extra push from the creature before it slipped into Tai.

Another few eggs passed into his womb with the slow tempo the creature had developed. Tai tilted his head, bleary-eyed, to see that the tentacle had a few inches of empty space just where it disappeared beneath the body. Another shift, rocking on his knees, and yet another of the brood disappeared into him, an additional one slipping into his slit to take its place and having been pushed enough by the creature’s contraction that another butted against it, Tai stretched wide around its fat base.

The combination of the breach of his cervix and the slide of the eggs against each other had him quaking all over again, and with his climax, two more ovals pushed in next to their kin. Tai felt two more eggs take their places in the aftermath, his spasming muscles feeling as if they were tugging them in. Really, it just made the creature’s job a bit more difficult, its contractions forcing the eggs, the smaller tentacles pushing them on, and all of them working to deposit the last few eggs into Tai’s womb.

Finally, one egg remained; it made its way to the end of the largest tentacle and no other came to replace it. The tentacle drew back and contracted, pushing the broad end of the egg against Tai’s cervix, then it and the smaller tentacles slid forward, and it slipped into Tai’s gravid belly, the rest of the eggs shifting to make room.

Tai, breathing hard, legs come-damp and the rest of him sweaty, looked at himself, his massive belly hanging in the way. He could just see the tentacles, and feel them still in him, thick and heavy and filling. The largest tentacle retracted, sliding free and slipping to the ground with a dull _plap_ , while the other three remained.

Like before, they curled around each other, finding their way to the deepest parts of Tai. The slide of them through his cervix was slicker than the eggs, their smaller, thinner forms prodding through with relative ease aside from pressure. One, then the next, and finally the third found their way into his womb, snaking around the eggs and exploring the brood’s incubator. Tai could feel it, could see as they shifted against the walls of his womb, the eggs and tentacles causing the barest bulges where they pressed outward.

Seemingly satisfied, the creature expanded once more, and the next contraction shuddered through its appendages, right to their tips. They spasmed, shooting their hot, sticky seed once, then again, filling every crevice left by the oval eggs. One last, smaller contraction tingled through them, and a final spurt of the creature’s come soaked Tai’s insides before, one after another, slow and slick, they retreated, leaving Tai wet and messy, with a belly full of warm, rubbery eggs and thick come.


	5. Chapter 5

Twilight hadn’t sunk over the forest by the time feeling had come back into Tai’s limbs. Sated and warm, he’d only gone so far as to turn and reach for his bag, pulling out the second towel to use as a blanket while his body readjusted to the weight of the creature’s clutch housed deep inside him.

His shirt had ridden up when he’d squirmed against the tentacles, and then slipped higher as he’d turned onto all fours; it settled above the swell of his belly, his skin stretched to accommodate something like two dozen eggs or more. They distended him enough that he could only manage to clasp his hands over his navel with just a bit of wiggle room. And with how he’d grown the last time, surely after the next few days he wouldn’t even be able to manage that.

Laying on his side, head pillowed on one arm while the other rubbed long strokes over his new brood, he glanced back down at the creature that had bred him. Since depositing its eggs, it had lightened in color and shrunk by a great deal- in fact, most of its previous mass seemed to have been the eggs and come that were now housed within Tai. Now, it was only slightly bigger than his own head, and he imagined even that was just a disguise for the limbs hiding under it.

For the briefest of moments, he entertained the idea of prying it from its home nestled in the rocks, stuffing it into his bag and taking it with him, but the thought dissolved in disappointment as soon as it manifested. Obviously it needed water, but the water it needed was surely not the same as Tai could run in, say, a bathtub. Beyond that, he was sure it needed to eat something, and he wasn’t even sure if it was actually stuck to where it sat. The other one had been gone, so maybe this one would leave too, now emptied of its spawn.

And the eggs that Tai had birthed almost two months ago, where were they? Did they act like salmon, growing up in the ocean and trekking back to find a host for their eggs once they were old enough? How long would it take before Tai saw one of the babies again? Not that he’d be able to tell if they were his, but the thought tickled at him anyway.

Those nebulous ideas entertained him for the next while, his body cooling from its exertion and the dampness on his legs drying.

Again, Tai reached for his bag, checking his phone. Just after 4:00. He pulled the washcloth free next, hanging onto it as he kicked one leg and used the leverage to hoist himself up onto all fours again, stomach dragging at him and the new position making the eggs settle against each other. It was easier to crawl slowly to the bank of the creek than to stand, the towel protecting his knees from the rough pebbles under it. He dunked the washcloth into the chilly water and spent a little while cleaning himself up, washing his face, dampening his neck, rubbing it over his belly and then finally cleaning away what was left of the drying come between his thighs.

As clean as he cared to be, and probably as clean as he could get before a shower, he gathered up his old clothes and dug out the larger stuff he’d brought. Like always, his binder stayed on, though he took the time to readjust it. He replaced his T-shirt with the largest sweater he owned, which just fit, reached to awkwardly shove his feet- one at a time- through his boxers and then through the pajama bottoms he’d brought, and untied his shoes, adjusting the laces so they wouldn’t drag once he slipped them on. He couldn’t reach to properly tie them anyhow. And then, dressed as well as he could be, his stomach at least covered and his old clothes wadded up in his bag, he struggled to stand. Eventually, he managed to grab onto a root and brace on a rock so he could get his feet under him and heave the bag over his shoulder. Its insignificant weight did nothing to balance him out; he leaned to compensate and found his center of gravity after a bit of adjustment.

And then, with a cheeky wave at the creature still nestled in its rocky home, he found the flattest part of the bank to walk up and headed back toward the unmarked path he’d taken to find his haven.

He had to stop a few times along the way to catch his breath, and once to eat his granola bars, but he made it to the closest bus stop after about an hour. The sun was dipping low in the sky, and the bus was fairly empty, so Tai sat as close to the door as he could, leaned back and legs spread to accommodate his sagging belly. The bus driver even offered, once he pulled the cord, to let him use the wheelchair ramp, but Tai just shrugged and waddled his way down the two steps and onto the curb with a quick ‘thanks.’ From there, another shot walk had him back at Michael’s apartment complex, where he pressed the buzzer.

“Hello?” Michael’s voice issued tinnily from the speaker after a click.

“Hey,” Tai said. “I’m back.”

“Oh.” There was a pause. “Are you…?”

Michael didn’t finish his sentence, but Tai figured he knew what that hesitation meant.

“Yeah, I found it.” This time, he was the one that paused. “Look, I said it’d be weird. I can go once I grab my stuff.”

Michael didn’t answer. The door buzzed, more an answer in itself, and Tai let himself in, rode the elevator up a couple floors, and paused outside it to lean against the wall. And finally, after a few more steps, he knocked on Michael’s door.

It opened to a concerned face, one whose gaze flicked down and immediately fell into shock. Tai was aware he looked about nine months pregnant, but Michael’s face let him know how absurd it seemed. After all, he’d left that morning with nothing but a pooch of fat defining his belly, and now here it was, protruding enough that his sweater barely covered it.

“I said-” he started, and that seemed to flip a switch on Michael’s body. He stepped aside, interrupting Tai’s thought.

“Well, you’d better come in.”

Tai hesitated, and then parsed what Michael had just said. His shoulders slumped from the tenseness he didn’t realize he was holding, and after he’d stepped in, Michael let the door close behind him.

He waddled across the living room, letting his small bag slide off his shoulder and flop next to his backpack, then braced his hand on the arm of the couch and levered himself down, legs once again spread for balance.

“Whuff,” he said, leaning back, one hand resting on his belly, the other cupped under and massaging the taut skin.

The whole time, Michael stood and watched, mouth not agape but the rest of his face making it seem like it should be. He said nothing, having forgotten what he was going to say as soon as he’d seen what had happened.

Tai looked up at him, waving a hand. “Hey. What?” Michael didn’t respond. Tai sighed, both hands now rubbing under his navel, pressing and feeling for the movement of the eggs. “Look, I said it was weird, okay? I said you didn’t want to know.”

“I- yes, but-” Michael started, then stopped, unsure what else to say. For lack of words, he gestured helplessly at Tai.

“Yeah, I told you I was probably gonna come back pregnant.”

“Yeah, and when you said that, I figured it was, you know, normal. Like you went out and messed around with someone without protection or whatever, not that you- you ate a baby-sized watermelon!”

“I said it was weird!” Tai snapped back, his voice rising to match Michael’s slight frantic tone.

“You look like you need to go to the hospital and have twins!”

“No. I’m fine, okay? I knew this was gonna happen. This is how it happened before.”

That shut Michael up enough so that Tai could settle back against the couch again and gather his thoughts. Michael, meanwhile, slunk just close enough to sit on the edge of a chair.

“So… yeah. I wouldn’t’ve asked if I didn’t know what I was gonna do,” Tai began. “The first time this happened, I didn’t know. I just went for a walk and then there was this thing, and it was all touch-happy, but it wasn’t really doin’ anything real bad. So I just kinda let it, and-” He hesitated, skipping over the part where the creature felt him up and got him off. “Anyway, it got real curious, but by the time I figured out what the hell it was doin’, I couldn’t really get it out.

"So then it… y'know. I ended up like this, and it sorta sucked 'cause then I thought I had to go home and everything, but I just went to a hotel instead.”

He paused, looking down at himself. Tentatively, he rubbed the side of his abdomen with one hand, and carefully didn’t look at Michael. “So I just dealt with it, and then I was out for a walk and all this shit started happening, and they came back out, an’ that was it. I tossed 'em in the creek an’ went back home.

"But I- I dunno. I started to kinda… miss it. Like, yeah it sorta sucks bein’ fuckhuge an’ all but-” He pressed his hand flat against his belly, pushing down, and the eggs shuddered into a different configuration. “Y'probably don’t get it. But it feels so fuckin’ good. Like, I ain’t got shit for tits anymore compared to this, an’ a couple days in I can feel 'em movin’, it just-”

He sighed. “Fuck. Never mind. I just wanted it again. So I got it, an’ then it’ll be gone in a couple weeks an’ you won’t have to worry about my sorry ass anymore.”

Finished with his little speech, Tai sat and let the silence fall. It felt heavy, and for lack of anything to do with his hands, he picked at his nails. Just as he was going to ask if he could take a shower, Michael opened his mouth.

“Yeah,” he said. “That's… nuts. But, I mean, it’s done now, so you do you, I guess? I’m just gonna stay out of it.”

“I mean, yeah,” Tai agreed awkwardly. “S'fine, I wasn’t expecting anything 'cept you havin’ a couch, so like. I’ll take care of it. Pay for food and whatever.”

Michael, seeming just to want to be done with the conversation, waved it off, then stood. “I’m just going to put in a pizza.”

Tai paused, and answered “…yeah” as Michael stepped into the kitchen and clicked the oven on.

Somewhere in there, Tai heard the oven door open, but by the time the pizza was done, he was long asleep, tucked into the couch and curled around his heavy brood.

***

The next day was just as awkward. Michael kept glancing at him as if he wanted to ask something, and when Tai looked back, Michael said nothing. It was a weird combination of him acting like he wanted to ask things, but avoiding Tai so he couldn’t ask things, and the avoidance itself was hard in a two-bedroom apartment. Most of the time, Michael either stayed out working or stayed in his room.

Tai did occasionally have trouble, too. The couch was plush and with such a heavy load bearing down on him, Tai struggled to heave himself out of it even with a grip on the arm. Not that he’d ask Michael for help anyway- he’d manage one way or another to turn and either slide off or scoot to the very edge so he could get a running start into standing up. Not to mention that with the size of this brood, even sleeping was getting into irritating territory while on the couch. He could only lay one direction, his legs tucked up because it was too small to stretch out and belly nearing the edge, as if he turned around, all his weight would squish toward the back of the couch and make it hard to breathe.

He talked himself into staying because it was better than dealing with being pregnant on the street, and he damn well didn’t want to go back to his parents’ if he could help it. But the next few days played out the same way, Tai grumpy and tired from his uncomfortable nights, and Michael avoiding him like he was a walking disease. They barely talked, and Tai kept as much to himself as he could while having taken up a small corner of the living room, but being closed off like that, and being in that company, was fucking with him hard.

Tai had never really had that great of self-esteem, even discounting his parents’ influence. Being transgender was one thing, but with that came dysmorphia- hence the binder- and a general dislike of himself. He thought he and Michael could talk, or at least that Michael would give him the time of day, but Tai had to face facts: he’d pushed too far.

Mulling over all that made him stormy most of the next days, too. By that point, not only had the eggs been growing, filling Tai’s belly out so if he stood with his elbows at his sides and tried to clasp his hands around it, he could barely touch his fingertips, but the creatures in the eggs had also started to move a little. If it was a single entity, it wouldn’t have been so bad, but each egg shifting individually as the creatures inside squirmed in their shells was draining. Tai had to keep adjusting himself, rubbing constantly at his taut skin and pressing into it to try and get them to settle down, taking breaks while he stood and leaning against the wall, letting his belly hang. He tried taking a bath once too so that some of the pressure would be off his hips, but he couldn’t stay in the tub forever, and when he finally did get out- with a hell of a lot of trouble- it just put into perspective how much it sucked.

He ended up reaching the stage of not bothering to move from where he lay, face buried in his borrowed pillow. The eggs jostled occasionally, and every so often he rubbed hard under his navel to try and get them to shift, not that it helped at all. He was considering going for as long a walk as he possibly could, mentally mocking that he’d make it into the hallway before getting so tired he’d have to turn around and come back, and then his phone buzzed.

[Good afternoon, Tai. I was just wondering if something was the matter, since it’s Tuesday and you haven’t come by yet] the text said, and he flicked a glance to the ID: Rue.

Fuck. He’d forgotten. Normally he was working Monday nights, which let him do an occasional grocery shop for a lady he knew, a few streets beyond the market. She was a bit of a recluse, so they ran into each other every so often while Rue did her late-night, no-one’s-around shop, since Tai worked nights for the same reason. He’d tried to put on his best customer face for her, but apparently she was more concerned for his well being than her own and insisted- stuttering and almost blushing all the while- that a tarot reading she’d done after their first meeting hinted at something wrong and she couldn’t have that.

The next thing he knew, he was given a quick little job that included said grocery shopping and other little errands so she wouldn’t have to leave the house as much. And… well, he accepted it because it was money and he was desperate.

He held his phone. Was he desperate enough now?

[hey sorry,] he texted back. [been sick but i can swing by]

[Oh, I’m sorry to hear.] Her reply pinged almost immediately. [You don’t have to, if you need to take care of yourself.]

[im good, just gimme a list of extra stuff if you got it]

Her next reply took longer, and a few messages came in succession, a list of simple groceries. Tai looked at it, then put his phone down and sighed. He pushed himself up, getting his knees under him and then slowly standing. Thankfully he wasn’t so big yet that his sweater and sweats didn’t fit, and his shoes were tied to be easy to slip on, so once he’d emptied his backpack so he could carry the groceries easier, he was out the door and waddling.

He would have liked to use one of those electric carts that grocery stores had, but he didn’t let himself, taking a shopping cart instead so he could lean on it. It was a quick trip anyway; Rue never asked for anything too complicated except for one particular brand of tea, which Tai knew how to get. The backpack, once it was full, did counterbalance him a little despite the weight it put on his hips and legs. He wasn’t sure if it was worth it, and by the look of the people at the checkstand, they didn’t either, but he did it anyway.

The shopping and walk took him nearly two hours with how much he had to stop and rest, putting the backpack down, getting it back on, sitting, leaning, walking again. But he managed it. He’d been thinking the entire time, too, about how to explain what was going on. She hadn’t seen him in a while, he guessed, so maybe he could pass it off as actually human. She did sort of know that he wasn’t the most careful individual, but at the same time, there was no way in hell that if Tai actually got pregnant, he’d be keeping it. He didn’t want a kid. Aside from it being a kid, he wasn’t sure that even if he had one, he could stop himself from fucking the kid up, and he didn’t want to risk it. Maybe… god, he didn’t know. He’d go with the pregnant-with-a-human-baby story and just tell her he was giving it up for adoption. After all, didn’t people pay money to adopt accidental kids?

Tai took some time outside Rue’s door to catch his breath and shrug the backpack off his shoulders before knocking and waiting for Rue to check who it was through the peephole. He’d have to stick around while Rue put the groceries away and to get paid, but that didn’t mean he had to talk. Both of them were pretty quiet anyway, so whatever questions Rue had would be quick.

Rue opened the door and her free hand shot away from her mouth as she tried to school her expression. “Goodness- Tai, n- no wonder… Oh, come- come in, here-”

She reached to take the bag from him and he let her, and then she backed away so he could follow. “Are- are you alright? D- um, do you-” She fidgeted, then seemed to remember she was holding his bag, and interrupted whatever she was about to say by hurrying to the kitchen and imploring, “Sit, pl- please sit.”

Tai glanced around her apartment- it was furnished somewhat sparsely but still comfortably, in slightly brighter colors than one might expect from someone who spent most of their time indoors. Her couch and matching chair in the living room surrounded a coffee table, and he picked the chair because it seemed easier to get out of- when he sat he could tell it would be.

Rue left him in the quiet, the only sounds her footsteps and the packages being put away, after she’d run some water. She must be making tea. Tai sat back, rubbing his belly, and turning a little against the back of the chair. He was tired, both from lack of proper sleep and from the trip he’d taken, but he wasn’t comfortable enough to doze off. He just tilted his head against the high back of the chair and closed his eyes.

When he opened them, it was to the sound of a teacup being put on the coffee table, and his backpack sat next to him. Rue had her own cup, and she held it and the saucer as she stirred honey into it and sat on the couch facing him.

For a moment, there was more silence, and then she finally seemed to get up the nerve. “Do- um. Do you… want to t- talk about anything? That is- um. I… I haven’t done a… a reading for you, um. Recently. But… I’ll listen if- if you want.”

Tai sat up, turning again. His belly shifted uncomfortably, and he massaged the side of it again, digging his knuckles in. He sighed, and leaned for the teacup, drawing as deep a breath as he could as he settled back, what with the eggs pushing into his organs and his binder tight over his chest. “It's… a lot,” he admitted, staring at the edge of his teacup.

Rue stayed quiet. That was what she was, a listener. She didn’t prompt him to talk, knowing that just like her clients- the ones that wanted palm readings and seances- he’d start speaking if he wanted to.

He did kind of want to, actually. “Can’t really work 'cause of this, an’ 'course I didn’t wanna deal with Mom an’ Dad, so… just been sorta dealin’ with it.”

“You're… safe though, r- right?” Rue’s concern had deepened just then.

Tai shrugged. “Safe as I can be, I guess. ’M on my friend’s couch, but I don’t think he likes it much.” He frowned. “Surprised he ain’t kicked me out, he hates it enough.”

“You- oh… you shouldn’t be- like that, you s- shouldn’t be doing that… ” She trailed off, and Tai watched her as she looked at her tea, wondering if she was trying to read the dregs. He sipped his own. “You could- or… um. I do have- there’s an extra room, y- um. You could use it if- if you wanted, until- um.”

She didn’t say anything further, but the implication was there. Tai fidgeted, curling his fingers back and forth against the warm teacup. “Yeah, but… I don’t wanna take your room or anything.”

“E- extra room,” Rue corrected. “It… I keep my, um. All my supplies. It’s a little- a little small because of the, um. The table, but there’s- there’s a bed and I’m not using it so, um.” She paused, turning her cup around. “It’s really okay. Um, I just. It’s better for me to- to know you’re safe. If I didn’t d- do something, I'd… I’d feel so bad.”

Tai stared at his cup. He’d drained it while she was talking, and it was a good distraction while he pressed the heel of his hand against the side of his belly. Some of the creatures seemed to want to be extra active today.

“It’s weird,” he finally said. “Y'don’t gotta know if y'don’t want, but… it’s still weird.”

Rue looked at him, then pushed some of her long hair behind one ear and smiled a little, watery smile. “That’s okay. Um, as long as… as long as you’re okay.”

“…Yeah,” he said, adding a parroted, “okay.”

The text conversation that Tai had with Michael over the next little while as he sat in Rue’s living room and she bustled around got a bit sharp. He started by saying he’d be able to come get his stuff so he could get out of Michael’s hair, which prompted a quick response asking if he was sure. Tai insisted, and Michael insisted back that he didn’t want Tai on the street.

Tai’s response may have been a little bitchy, but it wasn’t as harsh in text as it could have been if he’d snapped it aloud. Michael did finally relent when Tai said he’d be getting a ride, although he wore a dour expression when Tai knocked, Rue having stayed in her car.

He refilled his backpack with the stuff he’d left behind, finding it slightly easier to pull a footstool over and sit, legs spread so when he leaned, he could lean over his belly. Michael’s eyes felt like they were boring into the side of his head the whole time. It was enough that by the time Tai zipped the last pouch, he turned to stare back. “What?”

“That’s the car?” Michael asked in return, glancing out the window.

“Yeah.” Tai levered himself up, keeping a hand on the arm of the couch while he pushed the stool back with one foot.

“You’re sure-”

“It’s only for, like, a week or somethin’ an’ then I’ll be over it,” Tai interrupted, frowning and lifting his bag up.

“How do you even know her?”

“I do her shoppin’, alright? She’s got about as much teeth as a fuckin’ baby, an’ about as much want to do anythin’ to me. ’M fine,” he repeated, for what seemed like the fiftieth time- most of which were when Rue asked if he could go up by himself, though she didn’t look like she wanted to follow along at all.

Michael seemed to consider that, and relented. “Fine. As long as you’re sure.”

Tai rubbed his belly, pushing his hand up under it to relieve a bit of pressure. “Yeah.” A pause. “Anyway, uh… thanks for, y'know, a couple days.”

“…Sure.”

And with that, Tai waddled out into the hall, and Michael let the door close noiselessly.

***

Rue’s place was… better.

He’d gotten set up in her extra room, about a quarter of it full of a table and small boxes, stacked neatly away in the corner and labeled with things like 'incense cones’ or 'extra tablecloths’ or 'tarot cards and books’. A couple stacking chairs also sat against the wall, but that left a good deal of space for a comfortable-looking bed, a dresser and side table, and a smaller overstuffed chair next to a bookcase. Using the dresser as a stand rather than putting anything in it let him get into his backpack without having to bend down to get it, and while the bed was cushy, it also had about six pillows on it so he could adjust any way he liked.

The other thing was, Rue didn’t pester him, but she also didn’t avoid him. She offered, in her halting way, that he could take a shower or bath whenever he needed, and that because of his most recent shopping trip, the fridge was now fully stocked if he ever wanted anything. Being that Tai was usually a quiet person when he wasn’t in a big group, they quickly came to a mutual understanding that small talk was almost not necessary. However, Rue did offer him some advice.

Like with the pillows.

When he went to bed that first night, after he’d taken advantage of the bath and soaked until his hands were pruny, Rue knocked and stammered a suggestion that he use whatever he could to make himself comfortable. And then, blessing of blessings, she’d helped him. Tapping him gently to get him to move, she stuck a thick pillow between his legs and fluffed two more under his head, then pressed one against his back.

A final one she hesitated on, then, without touching, mumbled, “Um. Roll the, um, other way… a little,” and then put it just under the swell of his belly like a wedge. “It’s, um,” she said, offering a tiny smile. “Hodge-podge. But it… it should help. Better th- than a couch.”

And it was better. Tai did still have to get up a couple times to go to the bathroom, but for the rest of the night, he slept properly, for the first time in nearly a week.

Really, that was the way it stayed. Comfortable. While whenever Rue had clients for her psychic business Tai had to stay out of sight, the rest of the time was more like a visit to a distant cousin’s home. Welcoming, but not stifling, and far less stressful. Rue cooked, and Tai tried his best to keep himself busy, although if he was ever caught doing something Rue thought was too strenuous, she stuttered her way around asking him not to, and eventually ended up spending most days lounging or pacing slow circles around the apartment.

The eggs continued to grow, too. When he’d first sat up after the creature had deposited its clutch, he could reach and cup his hands around his belly, one hand over the other. Now, however, the taut skin had ballooned even more and forced him to wear the only shirt he had that was big enough- and it was practically a nightgown. He couldn’t even touch his fingertips when he tried to reach his arms around the mass anymore, and it stuck out like someone had glued a globe to his torso. And that entirely discounted how active they were. The creatures turned and twisted inside their rubbery eggs, shifting against each other, pressing this way and that. It wasn’t as apparent if Tai looked in a mirror, but if they were especially squirmy, sometimes if he looked at himself a certain way, he could more clearly see the outlines of the eggs pressing outward, and even watch as they changed position if he waited long enough.

Over the next few days, even if the water didn’t fully reach over his distended belly, he took several baths, just so he could try and get the weight of the two dozen eggs off his hips and knees and back. It also allowed him a bit more ease in massaging them, so they could settle into a much different configuration than when he was sitting or standing, but the pain of them was getting worse.

It was just as he was laying back into one of those baths that something felt… weird. More weird than usual.

He still massaged his abdomen, pressing his knuckles into his side and running the heel of his hand over his navel. The eggs still jostled, the bodies inside them squirming for whatever reason they squirmed. But he still felt heavy, like all the weight of them was strapped down harder than it needed to be. He sighed and flattened both hands under the weight, and pressed up, letting his hands slide a little. The eggs did sort of even out, but his hips twinged under the sensation, the familiar ache a little sharper and a little more present. “Ugh. C'mon, can’t you just chill?” he mumbled at himself, at the brood as they squished up against his other organs. Still, the bath was warm and comfortable from an objective perspective, and he usually felt better by the end of it- even if getting back out sucked.

He lay in the tub, sort of half-sideways so his massive stomach didn’t press down on him too much, and moved his legs slowly, tapping at the surface of the water with his hands, to keep the circulation of warmth going. The sound of the water slosh was nice, too, and the steam in the air made his breathing a little easier.

But the pain didn’t really stop. In fact, as he lay there, it got worse.

He turned over, putting the pressure on his other side instead, and then sat up to let some of the water drain so he could refill it to be hotter.

Fuck, his hips hurt. Maybe he was just too big to have any relief anymore. Maybe he’d just have to ride out the pain until he could go back to the river and-

That thought cut off as a much more intense shot of pain oozed through his muscles and up his back. Tai curled up on himself, holding his breath against it, and then letting the whole thing out in a rush that splattered a few drops of water over the edge of the tub.

“Ow,” he groaned, rubbing under his belly again and pressing into the taut skin as he rolled over and pushed his feet against the front of the tub to lever himself into sitting higher. That just made the whole feeling worse. The eggs dragged at him, feeling like they’d all been forced  to try and sit in the cup of his hips, like a huge hand was pressing down on him from the inside.

It felt like-

“Oh shit.” Fuck! Fuck, he was planning on going back to the river over the next day or so, just to see if that would push things along somehow, since the pregnancy was two weeks in, which seemed way longer than the first one had been. But no, now the brood had decided it was time to come out, and in Rue’s bathtub, no less. How the fuck was he supposed to get them from here to any water? Stick them in a duffel bag and toss it off a bridge? After pushing them out, he didn’t even think he’d have the energy to lift all the weight that was still sitting in him, let alone drag them anywhere else!

Another lance of pain raced up his spine and felt like it bled into his bones. He drew his knees up and tucked his head against his chest, hanging onto the edge of the tub with one hand to ride out what he now knew was an actual contraction. That must have been why he felt so weird, why he’d decided that now, of all times, was the best time to take a bath.

The contraction passed, and he let his head roll back on his shoulders, feeling too warm. Maybe he could get somewhere else? Yeah, sure, get his clothes on and get onto the street and find a place in the city where he could have these eggs where no one would find him. That was like going to a party and expecting no one to notice him.

He shoved the lever on the bath spout open, letting the hot water drain, and then forced himself to sit up. He probably couldn’t even get out of the apartment before something happened. Maybe at the very least he could keep to himself in the bath long enough to have the eggs and then need to explain. Yeah. He could do that. And he could start by rolling over onto his knees while there was still enough water to help. He wanted to be able to stand for a little while, or lean at least; leaning where he was just then, arms braced on the edge of the tub and knees spread to even out the pressure, helped.

Tai let his forehead sink to his arms, taking a few deep breaths now that the brood was hanging low in front of him. That helped to stop his heart beating so fast, and let him get ready to heave himself up to his feet.

Just as he was about to, another contraction struck. His hips pulsed with the deep ache, and he breathed hard through his nose, forehead still pressed against his arms. He swayed on his knees, rocking his hips side to side, and that seemed to help, even if the pain wasn’t subsiding as easily anymore. Once he thought it was at its lowest, he tried to get his feet under him, reaching up for the nearest towel bar to brace himself as he stood.

Stepping out of the tub took another surprising effort. Tai wrapped himself in the biggest towel Rue had, but by then another contraction had started, so he ended up leaning against the bathroom sink, knees bent and feet wide, trying to support as much weight as he could on his folded arms.

Another ease of the pain. Tai breathed, still rocking, still trying to find some sort of relief. He stood straight again, then leaned back, but immediately regretted it as he almost fell over. He cupped his hands under his belly, pressing as hard as he could with shaky hands, then pushing down. Press up, push down. Breathe, Tai. Fucking breathe, already. Before the next squeeze could happen, he leaned back over so he could wait for it. It started deep in his gut, then spread to his hips so quickly that he had to grit his teeth against a curse. This one pinched, his stomach clenching with the pressure, and suddenly everything just seemed thicker. He wasn’t paying attention to the squirming of the eggs anymore. Now he was focused on how they pressed. The hand inside of him balled into a fist and shoved down like a sandbag had been tied around his waist and hung between his legs. His hips throbbed.

Finally, it relented, but the urge Tai had felt for the bath was still there, amidst the ache. He waddled, hips feeling absurdly huge, back to the tub and eased one foot and then the other in. He couldn’t lean down to reset the drain plug, so he balanced with both hands on the wall and pushed on it with his foot, then waited for yet another contraction to flow into action, and ebb away.

He felt massive.

Water. Right. Not… not hot water. Sort of… cold, right? He turned the faucet on and changed it so that the tub began filling, mildly cold around his feet.

He could do this. He’d done it before, without help. Without knowing what to do. The sound of water rushed in his ears; he pressed his forehead against the shower wall, and without the ability to spread his knees, groaned into the contraction.

“Ow,” he breathed, in a long drawl. “Ow, ow… nnh.”

Panting, he blinked at the water as it climbed over his ankles and then up his shins. By the time it had risen a few inches, another thickness settled around his belly and squeezed, and the pain between his legs pushed and pressed and sharpened.

“Aaaah- aaaah, ow-”

He barely heard the knock. It wasn’t until the contraction had almost passed, and another knock came, that he even ground out an answer, eyes watering.

“Ruuue,” he pleaded, shuddering. “Help-”

The call of her name seemed enough; she opened the door tentatively, peeking through with a quick call of his name. He didn’t move, still standing in the rising water, towel wrapped as well as he could around his girth, palms against the shower wall alongside his forehead.

“O- oh-” she breathed, and stepped inside, closing the door, then reaching down to turn off the water. “Tai, is it-?”

His groan interrupted her, enough of an indication of yes. She hesitated a moment, then touched his arm, then rubbed his back as he pressed his forehead hard into the wall.

“H- here,” she said, once his long, low complaint settled out, and touched his arm again, tugging to turn him toward herself and wrapping her arms around to hold him. Immediately, he sunk further down, cocking his knees out against the pressure between his legs.

“Aah, ow, ow-” he gasped, clinging to her dress.

“Keep… keep going,” Rue said, bending further, making him bend too. He started to try and get back to his knees, but she paused. “N- no, here, stay- stay… bend your knees.”

He whined briefly, but at that, he didn’t have much choice. He let himself sink down and into the cool water, which shocked his muscles a little and made him shudder.

Rue seemed to take that differently; she let go of him with one hand to test the temperature. “T- Tai, this water is- is cold!”

“Not-” he breathed in return, trying to focus. “S'good, just…”

He trailed off, and while Rue wanted to argue, she could always quickly drop the plug and add more hot water if she needed to. “Okay. Okay.” She let his arms drop a little so he could hang onto the edge of the tub instead, and rubbed his shoulder. “You- you’ll be fine.”

Tai didn’t have time to be embarrassed. He gripped the side of the tub hard and rode through another contraction, doing his best to rock on his feet. The pain ripped through him, his stomach visibly clenching, and he reached down beneath the water to feel something- anything- but there was nothing he could touch except himself. He whimpered, and tried to breathe, and felt Rue clear some of the damp hair away from his face.

“It’s okay,” she said softly. “You’re- you’re doing fine. K- keep going.”

His calves already hurt, but at least the water calmed that sensation down a little. For a few long, blissful moments, the pain of the contractions lessened, and Tai took a deep breath, but then it redoubled, and Tai held that breath against it.

“T- Tai, you have to breathe,” Rue said, from somewhere beside him. He heard her move, and felt her hand, rubbing low against the small of his back. “Un- unless you want to, um. Are you p- pushing?”

As the ache decreased again, Tai let out his breath, a little choke on the end of it. The first clutch hadn’t been this hard. The eggs had started coming even when he was standing up. These… these just felt like they were stuck, and they’d never come out.

“Oh, Tai…” Rue ran her other hand through his hair again, still rubbing his back. “N- next one, take a- a deep breath and hold… and push. P- push hard.”

“Rue…” Whatever he was going to say cut off. He sucked in a breath, too sharp, but held it and pushed. He pushed for as long as he could, all of maybe five or so seconds, before he felt the slide of a sudden, shallower pressure between his legs. His knees shook, and he ducked his head, chanting short croaks of “ow ow ow-”

“Push- push again,” Rue urged, resting her hand on top of his white-knuckled one.

Tai took another shallow breath, dazed, and held it, doing as she said. He could feel the broad end of the egg pushing free, and a noise started in his throat as it tried to force its way out. But then the contraction stopped and the egg slipped partway back in. “F-fuck, fuck, it’s not-”

“You can d- do it,” Rue said, rubbing his hand.

“N- no, I-”

“Y- yes you can. Y- you can.”

Not that he had a choice. The contractions were happening so quickly it felt almost like there was no space in between them at all. Where he could, Tai sucked in a breath, and bore down. The egg began to spread his slit, and finally, finally slipped out into the water, only its slight green-blue transluscence and the vague outline of the creature inside to say anything had even happened. But by then, with all the pushing, another egg had slipped from beyond Tai’s cervix and lay nestled in his birth canal, the contractions squeezing around it.

He pushed again. The egg nearly breached, sinking back a little when Tai had to stop. Another contraction and he forced himself to ride it through, and the egg slipped out, replaced by the next, and yet another in its wake.

Rue, after that, stayed quiet. Her hand on his back stilled, but remained, along with the one covering his own hand.

Tai just bore down. Each egg crowned, then with another steady push, was delivered next to its siblings. Once he got somewhat of a rhythm, several of them went easily. But god, he was tired. His legs were shaking, and he wasn’t sure if it was because of the cold water or because of the pressure or weight, or all of it together.

At one point, after four unsuccessful attempts at birthing an egg whose narrow end had come first, Tai bore down once more and pushed it free, then tried to adjust on shaky legs. He would have fallen over, too, in the midst of yet another contraction that was already forcing an egg to crown, if Rue hadn’t caught him.

“Oh- oh no, here-” she started. Tai shivered, leaning into her and pushing- the egg didn’t fully budge, and he croaked a sob.

“Here, here,” Rue said, and tried to help him up. She hung onto him, half-standing, through another push. Tai finally managed it, and the egg splashed into the water. Surely he was too cold, and the water didn’t seem to be helping the births at all, so Rue used what she could of her arm strength to support him as they fumbled their way out of the tub.

Now standing, hugged to Rue with his belly still so huge between them, Tai clung. His knees shook, and another contraction swept him along, forcing him to crouch to push the beginnings of his second dozen free. Rue, ever patient, held him, and then when the tenseness of his body dispersed a little, levered him down so he could lay on the floor mat in front of the sink. She grabbed an extra couple towels, putting one behind Tai’s head, then waiting as he pushed another egg free, and finished covering him with another to try and keep him warm.

Out of his own haze, Tai saw Rue scoop the egg up and drop it into the tub water, then turn back to him, and touch his knee. “O- okay, Tai. You’ll be okay.”

Rue pushed Tai’s legs up around his shrinking belly to give him more leverage and something to brace on so when he pushed, he got more strength behind it. The next egg delivered with a single contraction, as did the two after. Each of them, Rue paused to scoop into her hands and deposit into the bath water, and then she pressed Tai’s knees back again and waited for the next.

A third, then a fourth. The fifth gave Tai a bit more trouble, and he breathed through two more contractions before he finally birthed it. The sixth came much easier, as did the next several.

By that point, most of the floor was wet, not only from the water but from the fluid lubricating the eggs. Rue didn’t seem to mind at all; she just watched as Tai bore down again, and another large egg slipped free. Tai panted, staring at the ceiling, but already the pain was starting to diminish. Another set of lighter contractions persisted, and a final two eggs eventually came, followed by a small gush of fluid in the final convulsions. Rue scooped them up just like all the others and placed them in the tub.

Twenty-seven eggs, each about the size of a large grapefruit, were piled in the chilly water of the tub, the shimmery forms barely visible beneath the surface. Rue looked at them, then put her full attention on Tai, edging around to his side and tucking the towel a bit closer. “Is- is that everything?” she asked tentatively.

Tai didn’t answer for several moments, focusing on how much his heart was pounding, the throbbing between his legs and in his back, and how much his head spun. “I-… I think so,” he managed. Most of the stabbing pain had subsided into those aches, and while he could still feel the occasional longer spasm of his muscles, he wouldn’t necessarily call them contractions. He breathed out a tired, achy, shaky sigh.

“When- when you’re ready, um. I’ll help you to bed.”

Tai nodded.

The bathroom remained quiet over the next several minutes, until Tai tried to roll over and sit up. Rue moved, hooking her arm under one of his and slowly easing him to his feet. With tentative steps, she guided him out of the bathroom and across the hall to his bedroom, where she laid him down and took out extra blankets to cover him up.

“Get… get some rest. Um, you just need to- to rest. I'll… make something for- for when you wake up.”

She tucked in one side of the blanket over his shoulder, paused, then turned and padded out of the room, leaving the door open a hand’s breadth. Tai didn’t hear anything for a moment, then he heard water from the kitchen sink, and the sound of a pan hitting the stove top.

His head hurt. His eyes watered.

He sniffled.

It didn’t take him long to cry himself to sleep, and when he slept, he slept a long time.


	6. Chapter 6

Even after Tai woke, he stayed in bed. He didn’t want to face whatever questions Rue had, and he definitely didn’t want to worry about the eggs that were probably still in her tub. He did at one point hear the water in the bath running, but he didn’t go check to see what Rue was doing in there. Eventually, however, he had to get up to use the bathroom, and after that he couldn’t deny that they should probably talk about… everything.

He got dressed, planning on showering later anyhow, and made his way into the living room. Rue must have heard him shuffling around, because she had yet another kettle on to boil, and the kitchen was warm with residual heat from the oven.

“The… the lasagna is almost ready. You should, um, eat something, a- after all that.” Along with that comment, she offered a glass of juice and a seat, both of which Tai took with a slowness.

Silence fell. The oven timer dinged, and Rue stood to pull the lasagna out and set on the stove to rest a little. Tai watched her, then dropped his gaze to the cup of juice as she took the kettle off as well.

“How come you’re not freaking out about this?” he finally mumbled, once two cups of tea had been poured and Rue had put one in front of him.

Quietly, Rue considered. “I've… read a- a lot of things that, um. Describe various… pregnancies. R- religious ones and… and lesser-known things. It- it happens in most cultures. The, um, the strange carrying of- of children…”

“Yeah, those ain’t kids,” Tai grumped.

“Um… no, they aren’t. But- um. I suppose I… I didn’t really believe it un- until I saw you. Um, that is, most… most cisgender boys don’t find a- a way to get pregnant, and… and I wanted you to be s- safe. And I… I thought it would help to- to have someone that… understood being- being transgender.”

Tai looked up at her, face scrunched. “Huh? How would you know?”

Rue smiled warily. “B- because I am, too.”

“What- no. But you’re like… such a _girl_.” He wasn’t sure what that meant exactly, but it was the only way he could describe the fact that she passed so well. He never would have guessed. “What the hell. That’s like… gay people really do show up together constantly. Like magnets or whatever.”

She chuckled. “I- I guess so. Maybe it's… safety in numbers. Either way, I- I did want you to be safe. A- and I do want to understand.”

Here, Tai paused. He didn’t want to have to explain again; even though Rue would probably make an effort, he didn’t expect her to really make sense of any of it, not when he was still sort of figuring it out himself.

“I dunno,” he finally said, his attention having fallen away from her and back to the table. “I… I guess it’s like that thing people say they just really wanna have kids, like they _need_ it. I don’t _want_ kids. But this is sorta like havin’ ‘em an’ then just… not havin’ the actual kid.

"So like, it feels great, even when it feels kinda shitty. The first time was alright, an’ then this time was okay too.” He paused, glancing up at her. She looked confused, as expected. Like she had a hundred questions. “It's… prob'ly weird that I wanna do it again, huh? I mean not like now, but- y'know. Sometime.”

Rue stayed quiet for a few moments, then got up to refill her tea and plate them some lasagna each. As she spooned honey from a jar for her tea, she finally spoke. “So this is the… _second_ time?”

She glanced back at him and he nodded.

“I… ah, I supposed as long as it- it’s not dangerous…?”

“It doesn’t _feel_ dangerous. 'Cept I can’t work if I do, an’ like hell I’m gonna tell my folks anythin’…”

“I- I mean, that, um… but you’re worried about money.”

“I dunno. Maybe I just have to quit my job? Find some online shit to do? Run your stuff, still, but- fuck. I can’t do that. I can’t do it again.” He actually sounds a bit upset by that. “Hah, fuckin’… do it an’ go find a place to be a science experiment. I bet they’d pay good.”

“Don’t do that,” Rue immediately interrupted, definitely concerned. “…You can keep staying here… I won’t, um, I won’t charge rent, if you’re that set… But if you- it’s better to plan first.”

Tai sighed. He was worse at planning than he was at dealing with the aftermath.

“So then… keep workin’ 'til I wanna go again, then quit an’ do that other stuff,” he tried. It’d probably be a few months before he would want to do it again- his legs and hips still held a residual ache, and while the tea helped warm him, he did also have a slight headache. He didn’t even want to be out of bed, but he also didn’t want to lounge around that long.

By then, it would be-

“Aw fuck,” he said, sinking lower in his chair. “It’ll be fuckin’ _December_ by then.” Even if he wanted to do it, he sure as hell couldn’t justify hiking into the woods to go strip bare-ass naked and get all soaked and frozen so he could carry around a belly full of eggs again.

Rue at least looked sympathetic. “It's… probably better to wait… until Spring anyway.”

Spring was the classic time where animals all started breeding. Maybe. That would be better, then, right? More time to plan, and at the very least, warmer.

Tai didn’t volunteer any more information, loathe to bring up the fact that Rue had just offered him eight months of basically free living in case she decided against it, and Rue let the conversation trail off as she sipped her tea.

“Wh- um. What would you like to… to do with them?” she finally asked, glancing at the short hall and the door to the bathroom.

Tai, tea ignored and juice only half-drunk, looked at the table top. He shrugged. “I dunno. Stick 'em back where they’re s'posed to be I guess.”

“In… water?” Rue hazarded. Tai nodded.

“Found 'em out next to the river. I dunno if they even need water, but they're… like jellyfish I guess so they prob'ly do.”

“I… I don’t think I have a- a big enough container to, um, take them. If- maybe if we wet a towel?”

“'We’? I can put 'em back. I _brought_ 'em here.”

“I’m sorry, Tai, um… but you’re in no c- condition to walk them. And- and what if they didn’t survive?”

“Well yeah, but you don’t gotta…”

“I’ll help you. They- they can probably fit in my, um. The back seat of the car.”

Somehow, despite her hesitating speech and mannerism, Rue seemed to come up with good arguments. Tai’s protestations trailed off as Rue finished her tea, put a plate of lasagna in front of him with a quick “eat this, b- before you come help” and then went to find towels.

 

By the time Tai had finished his food, Rue seemed to have worked out a flawed but manageable system for carrying the eggs. She’d spread a wool blanket on the bathroom floor, then a dry towel and a dripping wet towel on top of it. She’d begun scooping the eggs out of the water- six of them lay on the wet towel, the main bodies of the creatures darker lumps centered in the translucent shells.

 _No kids,_ huh? But… these were still sort of his babies. He could have just left them somewhere and let them fend for themselves, but that didn’t feel right. He stepped over the ones on the towel and climbed slowly into the tub, slipping his feet between them and crouching to grab them to pass to Rue.

“Whoa, they’re heavy,” he said, lifting one from the water. It felt way denser than it looked, not like a bubble but like thick jelly.

“I- I weighed one,” Rue offered, taking the egg and setting it with the others. “They’re about a pound each.”

“Fuck, no wonder my back hurt. That’s like… a lot.”

“That's… that’s about what it is, normally.” When Tai looked at her in question, she turned a hair pink. “I- I did some r-reading while you were still- um, since I thought it was- um, human, and I wanted to make sure you- that you were doing okay. So n- normal pregnancies add about that much weight. In this case it, um, it just seemed to be the… eggs, instead of you gaining, um, weight plus a baby.”

“…Oh.” Tai couldn’t offer more insight to that, instead trailing off into the quiet work of passing Rue the rest of the eggs. He let the tub drain afterward, making sure none were left.

“Goddamn. It felt like way more than that when they were still in,” he said, counting them for himself before they wrapped the wet towel over them and tied the blanket closed. “Twenty seven?”

Rue nodded. “That’s still a- a big number.”

“Guess so. Felt more like fifty.” But he didn’t argue further, not even when Rue took it upon herself to do most of the lifting. Tai at least made pretense of hanging onto the bottom so the eggs wouldn’t squish together as badly as they made their way to Rue’s car.

Dropping their burden off at the closest water source was surprisingly uneventful compared to the birth. Despite the nervous tic that had Rue glancing over her shoulder every so often once they’d found a place to park at the side of the road, the short walk to the river was flat enough and the padding had kept most of the water inside the wool blanket. All they had to do was unwrap the eggs and take opposite sides of the square to tilt so the eggs rolled over themselves and into the creek, where their forms nearly disappeared into the pebbly bed and moving water.

Tai stood for a moment, watching where one had dropped, then wadded the towels up in his arms while Rue folded the blanket. And just like that, the eggs were gone and Tai and Rue made their way back to the apartment.

Most of the way, Tai stayed quiet. But he fidgeted, waiting for the part where Rue would tell him to come back when he was ready to be pregnant again. It was when they were a couple blocks from the apartment that he couldn’t stand it anymore.

“How’re you still so calm about this?!” he asked, maybe a bit sharper than necessary, a bit of drawl in his hurried words. “I just shat out a load of weird eggs in your bathroom and you’re letting me stay with you?”

She glanced at him. “I- it’s not really my business to be upset?”

“Yes it is! I just… _showed up_ on your doorstep all fat and shit and then hung around-”

“You weren’t- you weren’t _fat_ , Tai-”

“Was so, an’ now I said I wanna do it again an’ you’re _fine_ with it? Aren’t you gonna kick my stupid ass out?”

“Why… why would I do that?”

“Because I’m fucking stupid for lettin’ a weirdass jellyfish thing stuff its eggs in me, I’m weird for doin’ it twice, an’ why the fuck would I wanna do it _again?!_ That’s beyond dumbass!”

“Tai-”

“An’ I’m takin’ up space, eatin’ your food an’ puttin’ it all on you so you’re worried and shit, when I could just go fuck off somewhere an’ do it myself.”

Rue waited for the quiet to settle after Tai spoke, in case he had anything else to say. When he didn’t add anything more, she answered. “Because I'd… I’d rather worry about you where- where I can do something about it than, um… than know something’s wrong and not be able to do anything.

"I… I don’t think I understand it fully,” she admitted, pulling into her parking spot and turning off the car. “But that doesn’t mean, um, I won’t listen, or… or won’t try. You’re my friend, and… and I want to help you because of that.”

Tai sat, staring at the glovebox. He fidgeted. “So you’re just gonna let me stay here now too?”

“I won’t make you, um… go back to your parents. It’s- it’s bad for you.”

The silence hung. “I’m still workin’, an’ I can still run groceries. So… don’t pay me for that. An’ I’ll buy stuff too.”

“Oh… pay for the, um, grocery list, and you’ll stay?” Rue nodded. “That’s a- a good deal.”

At least for now, that was good enough for Tai so he wouldn’t be a mooch. He opened the car door. “Okay.”

***

Tai had a long time to wait. The weather quickly dropped from decently warm with a coat to chilly and wet, the days darkening and the nights cold, which made hunting down a creature difficult. Let alone the chill that was sure to creep into him if he even tried to get it to breed him, stuffed into a sleeping bag as he imagined himself or no.

Rue, by her word, didn’t kick him out. It was easier for him to get groceries in smaller amounts too, picking up one bag every couple days instead of one big trip, and the fact that he wasn’t instigated into starting fights nearly every time he was in the apartment meant he could even hang around instead of forcing himself outside constantly. And because he was actually getting decent meals more often instead of just grabbing cold deli food or energy bars, he started gaining a bit more weight, filling out his sticklike figure into something more human.

Funnily enough, Tai also picked up a couple hobbies. Since he’d never learned to cook in a way that was more useful than reading the directions on the side of a mac and cheese box, he’d mostly stayed out of the kitchen. But Rue was always doing something a little different, and she did sometimes need help, which meant that Tai slowly began looking over her shoulder, and then being in the kitchen when she was ready to make, say, chicken pot pie and needed a hand- literally- making the crust. It was clumsy work, and there always seemed to be much more of a mess when Tai helped than when Rue was on her own, but she didn’t stop him from getting his hands dirty. She even let him start using her knives, and he only cut himself once. Or three times.

His kitchen knife work may not have been so great, but now that he was actually giving himself free time outside of work and his hours-long walks and sleeping, he had time to to knife work that was a bit different. Back before he’d resolved to get out of his old house, he’d found a pocket knife on one of his walks that someone must have left behind, with a wooden handle and a short, fat blade. Since he didn’t have anything better to do, he’d taken it and found some shitty wood to whittle into little pieces. And then he’d found some wood to whittle into a pointy stick, or what he thought a dolphin looked like. They weren’t exactly the best carvings at first, but they were something do with his hands. The wood he could find was a bit damp sometimes, but he didn’t discount the firewood he could buy at the grocery store. And there were other things he could carve, like foam, or after a look through some youtube videos, soap.

He did at least keep all his wood and soap and foam chips contained in a borrowed turkey roasting pan, or tried to anyway. And Rue seemed to like all the little things he was making enough to take pictures of them. In fact, she liked them so much that she asked whether or not Tai wanted to keep them all, or whether he wanted to maybe make enough of the different ones he had to take them to a holiday bazaar, or even post them online to see if people would buy them.

In truth, he wasn’t sure anyone would want to buy the little soap turtles or wooden dogs, but once he’d built up a stash of several different kinds, he gave in, at least to the online idea. After all, the worst that could happen was that no one would buy them and he’d just let Rue use them or toss them once they took up too much space. It was just about the doing, anyway, not the end product. So he fiddled around and set up a facebook page, and then connected that to an etsy which Rue helped get situated.

His first sale was a little wooden cat with a glass bead eyes staring brightly from its dark face.

That wasn’t even the best part of living with Rue, though.

The best part was when Rue set him up with a Planned Parenthood appointment, four months later. He didn’t have health insurance through his work, and of course his parents wouldn’t have accepted the responsibility of anything that had to do with Tai as _Tai_ and not _Matilda_ , so he’d never even considered it an option. But Rue did, and so once she’d confirmed that one of their clinics did have the service she was looking for, she and Tai drove the full hour it took to get there. The paperwork was arduous. The exam was awkward, though the doctor was nice enough. There were questions and blood drawings and whatever 'labs’ were, and the uncomfortable question as to whether Tai ever thought he’d want to become pregnant- he glanced at Rue before telling them 'maybe,’ which got him a lecture about stopping any treatment if he decided it was a yes at any point- and then Tai walked out of the office with a promise that his results would come back in a couple days.

A week after that, he took his first dose of prescribed HRT, and definitely made sure to keep from crying in front of Rue.

 

Beyond that, life felt almost too normal, like something was bound to break down. But Tai kept to his work at the grocery store, and to his learning to cook, and carving. Every so often, he snuck back to his parents’ place when he had a day off and gathered his things, a backpack at a time. Clothes went first, finally sorted into the chest of drawers in Rue’s spare room. Small boxes of things stored under his bed, bits and bobs from around his room. He left his furniture behind, unattached to it, but in one daring attempt, managed to carry out his computer tower, cables and monitor all in one go. And finally, when he had taken everything but a couple posters, he texted his dad with a simple sentence.

[I moved out.]

He didn’t get a response. At first, he wasn’t sure how to feel about that, angry that there was no reply, hurt by the same notion, and glad, too, that he didn’t have to deal with it. But when he told Rue, all she had to say was, “I’m glad you’re okay,” and it struck him that he didn’t have to feel anything about it. It was done, and over. He was out. He was with Rue.

And he was actually… good.

It faded from his mind as Christmas came and went, and he nearly cried again when Rue gave him a present that turned out to be not only a carving set- a proper one with chisels and borers- but a sample of finishing waxes, glue and even some small swarovski crystals and wire so he could add them into his projects.

Of course, he didn’t leave her empty-handed. He’d already bought her presents weeks before and hid them under his bed. He may have been bad at lying, but he was good at keeping secrets, so when he gave her the new tarot deck and bag of two handfuls of different crystals he’d looked up online, and six new types of loose leaf tea he’d never seen her try before, she got a fair bit misty eyed herself and hugged him and told him she loved it all. So that was pretty good.

Tai marked the passing of time through holidays and weather. A crystal clear night of never ending fireworks announced the new year, and it snowed three days later. Pink, purple and red oozed into the stores and then abruptly disappeared after Valentine’s day, and it rained for a week straight. One of Tai’s acquaintances drunk dialed him on St. Patrick’s Day, wondering if he was down for a party some dude was having at his place, but it was mostly because of the booze that Tai declined; it was still too cold, then, to go outside without at least a hoodie or sweater.

It rained the first day of April, misting the grass and making it soggy. Birds plucked at the worms escaping from their waterlogged tunnels. People risked the chance of bad weather to take walks in the park that Tai passed on his way to work. The wading pool had yet to be filled with water for the summer, but that didn’t stop anyone from enjoying the nice days when they happened.

But Tai was getting antsy again. The nights were still cool, but during the day he opened the windows, keeping the blinds closed for Rue’s sake, and let the warmer air seep in. Spring had taken its time, but it did finally seem to be officially the season. He packed his backpack with two towels, his phone, keys and wallet, and an extra set of clothes. Unpacked it. Repacked it with the addition of a blanket, and then took out his wallet, keys and phone, and went to Rue.

“I’m gonna quit,” was the first thing out of his mouth. He wasn’t sure why he worded it like that- it brought about more questions than anything, and he almost hoped that Rue wouldn’t remember his reason for wanting to quit.

“Oh,” she said, putting away the cards from her most recent tarot reading. “Are- are you sure?”

He hesitated, then nodded. “Yeah. I mean, I’ll give 'em the two weeks.” Another pause, and he soldiered on. “'Cause my website’s been doin’ okay and I still got a bit lyin’ around, and I sorta- I mean I do need it 'cause I gotta keep on bills and stuff but… I’m good.”

Rue considered, then nodded back. “As long as you’re, um, safe.”

That was all Tai needed to know that she did know what he was talking about doing, and a tinge of pink rushed over his face. “Um… yeah. I’m gonna pack some extra stuff too, and I’ll keep my phone on.”

“You’re going to keep… taking your medicine?”

“I… yeah, I guess so. I mean, it’s not like it’s gonna be like it is with a real pregnancy. But- I guess I’ll find out. I can always stop for a bit if I need to.”  
Rue nodded again. “We can pay attention. Keep you-”

“Safe, I know,” Tai interrupted. “It’ll be fine.”

So he gave his two weeks. As it happened, he wasn’t even scheduled on the last couple days he’d expected, and so once his shift on his final day was done, he walked out of the grocery- with a couple things Rue needed- and headed home.

Nervous energy had caught up with him, too. He walked back to the apartment quicker than he usually would, though he’d promised himself he’d try and sleep at least a little while, maybe take another day, before heading out to try and see if any more creatures had come around.

Rue, in that case, saw fit to pester him into doing as he’d promised, so it was two more days before he picked up his neglected backpack.

“I’ll call if I need anything,” he said again, for probably the fifth time as Rue handed him off a thermos of camomile tea.

And that was it, he was off on the road again.

 

He still needed a light jacket as he walked, but the cool air wasn’t detrimental. He’d kept space in his backpack, too, to make this a sort of business venture if he found any interesting rocks or wood pieces to add to his collection of things to carve. And he did, walking along beyond the normal scope of houses and through high stands of trees. Some of the wood he thought he liked turned out to be too old- it splintered if he pressed at hunks of it, but a lot of recently-downed branches were in good quality, and he snapped chunks off of them- quite a few with a bit of a struggle- and stacked them alongside each other with little bits of quartz he managed to find as he scuffed his feet along the pebbled path.

This time he’d gone a different direction, headed west along the banks instead of east, the creek’s path swollen with recent rain. He did wonder, with all the rain, if there would be more or less creatures. Did they like the wet weather because they were near water? Or would it be because of the water that he couldn’t find any? Thankfully the sky was clear, so there wasn’t a chance of any more bad weather catching him off guard.

Tai walked, skirting the stream banks, climbing back up onto higher ground when the water covered the whole of the sandy basin, weaving between bushes and trees, and keeping an eye out for something that looked like a jellyfish. He must have walked for about an hour and a half before his exploration slowed and he finally stopped, digging in his pocket for a granola bar and frowning to himself. Maybe it was a bad day. Or maybe he was looking in the wrong spot and had to go back the opposite direction, back where he’d originally found the creatures. Or maybe he was totally wrong and they wouldn’t be there at all and he was out of luck.

He sighed, taking a drink from the water bottle Rue had packed him, and then walked a bit farther so he could try and find a place to cross back over the stream and try a little further down, where he hadn’t gone yet.

Another half hour passed, and still nothing. Put out, Tai finally gave up on his downstream hunt and started back, still keeping an eye out in the hopes that a creature had appeared in the time he’d been looking.

Nothing.

Nothing, nothing and more nothing. He was nearing on another two hours of walking with no sign of anything, no indication that a creature like the ones he’d seen had even existed. Some small part of him mocked that it must all have been in his head, nothing short of a fever dream. He stopped again, leaning against a tree, and pulled out his phone.

[I didnt find anything,] he texted Rue. [Ill look a little longer then head back]

[Alright,] her text returned, several moments later. [Be careful.]

Another sigh and he let his phone slip into his pocket. A little longer. And even if he didn’t find anything, he could come back another day and try again. He’d forgotten how nice it was to just sort of… walk and not have a million things on his mind.

Instead, it was just one thing.

He found a narrower part of the stream to jump across, barely making it and getting the hems of his pants a bit damp, then took a couple wide steps to get himself up the bank properly and skirt around a bush to-

He damn near tripped over the thing. It was nestled behind the bush, its tinge of green coloring hiding it and a smudge of mulch along a bit of its side. Tai wobbled to a halt, staring at it, then frowning. “Fucking Christ, I could’ve just been looking around here,” he grumbled to himself. The thing trembled idly in response, and Tai snorted.

It looked… big. Like the other ones had looked, as far as his memory served. Like, roughly the size of the giant octopus at the aquarium. Its translucent body wasn’t as blue, he thought, but it still had that same sort of rubbery look to it, like if he touched it, it would be springy. And already, one small tentacle was poking a few inches out from beneath its body, another couple tips along another side of it as well.

Tai looked around. The ground wasn’t really rocky, more the springy brown of packed detritus. He poked at it with his foot, then went further and kicked a few bits of wood out of the way. Setting his backpack down next to the bush but still a few feet from the creature, he pulled out one of his towels, then reconsidered and pulled out the blanket, too. He left it folded in half and spread it on a more level bit of ground and wadded the towel on top of it.

And then, just as before, he sat to take off his shoes and socks, then wiggled out of his pants and boxer-briefs so he could test the feel of the air on his skin. It was a little cool, being next to the stream, but he thought he could manage; he could cover up with the towel for now.

Which was what he did after he moved his clothes out of the way, keeping his shirt and binder on. He spread the towel over his lap, then lay down, trying to ignore the tenseness low in his belly. Would the creature explore him? Was it full of eggs or did they just get that big? What if _this_ one was poisonous? He shifted his knees, then pulled them up so his feet were flat on the ground, the towel making a tent over them and his hips.

He wasn’t really sure how long it had been, how much time had passed as he stared up at the blue sky and watched a single small cloud pass, listening to the leaves in the slight breeze and the gurgle of the water to one side. A squirrel scrambled up a tree and chattered at a bird that flew off, but for the most part, it was quiet.

The tentacles only surprised him because he didn’t feel them on his legs. Instead, the sensation of a touch between his legs startled him into half-sitting up and nearly kicking whatever it was away. He slid one edge of the towel off to see four tentacles having come to explore his thighs, two of them not far from his slit.

“W- warn me next time,” he breathed, letting the towel fall to his side and propping himself up on his elbows to watch the wiggling tips of the tentacles touch his skin. The smaller ones took their time, feeling around the warmth between his legs, while the fourth- the larger one that Tai recognized by not only its size but its rounder, more opaque head- settled several inches back, as if it was waiting.

The three appendages teased around his slit, brushing along the warm skin, even going so far as to slide over his clit and make him shudder, before they finally decided to find their way deeper. All three curled around each other, not a moment between each of their entrances, and Tai sighed with a pleased hum and cocked his knees wider.

“Man, you know, I wish you could listen an’ like… fuck me for real,” he mumbled to the creature, whose tentacles pressed themselves into him, exploring along his inner walls, wiggling against the flesh and probing deep against him. “Could just… use one of them to touch me at least.”

It said nothing in return, nor did its movements change. The appendages lazily felt their way through him, one even going so far as to turn with most of its body inside him and poke its wiggling tip out before it oozed back in.

Already, the ovipositor was closer, its head brushing Tai’s stuffed slit but not yet entering. The creature made no sound, its feelers sliding against the ground the only noise it issued, even though it pulsed slowly like it was breathing.

“Mmn,” Tai murmured, letting his head ease back and his eyes close. The tentacles squirmed against his insides, and for a moment he felt them tense, and a bleed of warmth overcame the sensation. It was a short-lived one, though; the smaller tentacles didn’t pull out at all before the ovipositor was feeling its way inside, slipping between their slick bodies with a press that redoubled the sound in Tai’s throat. It pressed the other appendages against him as it sunk deeper, its fat length pushing as far into him as it could, until Tai could feel the pressure of it under his navel.

Tai lifted his hips, one more shift of the larger tentacle settling it wherever it was positioned. The other tentacles slid against it, their fluids coating it and themselves, and a little leaking from Tai as they pulled back. Eyes closed, he didn’t watch for the eggs. He just waited for the feeling of them, waited for the creature’s breathing-timed contractions to force them forward. And slowly, it did; the eggs began to travel along the thick ovipositor tentacle, one on its own and then followed by more ovals that ballooned the stretchy appendage with their forms.

He felt the first between his legs and then felt its movement as it pressed against him, but didn’t enter. He felt the contraction of the tentacle itself and the shift of the smaller tentacles as they tried to push it along, and he felt how it did press, but the wide end didn’t sink far enough into him that the rest could follow. It simply stayed with his lips parted around it, another egg lining up to try and force it along.

But when Tai opened his eyes several moments later, nothing had changed. The creature still sat unmoving except for its measured thrumming, the tentacle stretched down its whole length with the eggs it was trying to deposit. He sat up a little again to watch as the creature contracted and expanded, and the eggs moved slightly toward him, pressed… and then nothing.

Again, and the eggs moved slightly, and Tai even tried bearing down against them; the foremost egg pushed against his slit, but without the strength to force the grapefruit-sized oval into his entrance.

“Fuck,” Tai breathed. He sat up more, reaching to get his hand around the egg, but he couldn’t manage a grip anywhere but where it met him, and when he tried to push it away, he couldn’t do more than shift the eggs only slightly the other direction, opposed by the pressure of the creature trying to move them into him.

“Okay… uh…” Well, he couldn’t push them in himself, and apparently, the creature wasn’t able do it itself, either. Maybe he just… had to stop it and find another one, and let this one find a different person to put its eggs in.

Biting the inside of his cheek, Tai tried to slide his hand between himself and the first egg so he could grab the tentacle and tug, but the smaller tentacles around it forced themselves deeper into him and curled around it. Tai’s belly squirmed with the sensation, and he shuddered. “No, c'mon, get outta there.” He tried again, but the tentacles stayed fast. He tried pushing the egg in, able to get his hand behind it while he was sitting up, but the position made it so even with that leverage, he couldn’t get it to go.

Panting, he shifted, moving onto his side and trying the same thing, with no result. Pushing himself to all fours ended the same way, the eggs feebly trying to slide into him with the contractions of the creature, and Tai trying to reach to push them in, but lacking the ability.

“Fuck,” he said, finally letting himself ease onto his stomach, still stuffed full of the tentacle tips. What would happen if he tried to crawl away? Would the tentacles just snap off and leave him with them dangling between his legs? He shuddered at the thought.

What the fuck was he supposed to do now? Call Rue? God, imagine her seeing him like this. At least he still had the towel to give himself some decency around her, not that she hadn’t seen it all before. Getting fucked by a half-dozen tentacles was a bit different than birthing some eggs, though, albeit he didn’t want to try and specify how.

Groaning, he reached for his phone, foregoing texts for a call.  
It rang twice before Rue answered. “H- hello?”

“Hey, uh…” Tai started. “I, uh… I think I need your help.”

“O- oh, is everything okay?” Rue’s voice rose in pitch just a little, her worry bleeding through.

“No, yeah, it’s fine, uh. I’m just… sorta stuck, so… I think I need a hand.”

“It- oh, dear. Um. Okay. I’ll, um. I’ll just… I’ll come find you.”

“Yeah, I’ll send you a map thing.” He paused. “Or like, give you directions, once you get here. You want me to stay on?”

“Um. Yes, um. That- I think that would work. I’ll leave now.”

He heard over the phone as Rue locked her door, and the engine of her car. Temporarily, he put himself on speaker so he could bring up a map to screenshot with his location, then took it back off speaker. “Off Marley Road. There’s a gravel path that goes with the river a bit. I went left.”

Doing as he said, he stayed on the phone with her, but more in silence than in speech. Every so often, he tried to move in a way he thought could help, but he couldn’t bend his foot far enough to help push the egg in, nor could he sit up to try without the other eggs and tentacles getting in the way.

Finally, he just resorted to laying down on his back again, the towel draped over his legs as much as he could, while he described as best he could how he’d gotten down to the river.

He heard Rue before he saw her, the rattle of branches and snaps of twigs indicating her passing.

“Uh, hey!” he called, turning off his phone and sitting up on his elbows. “Over this side!”

More footsteps. He saw Rue’s head over the bush and waved a hand to get her attention, and she edged around a tree, holding her skirt in one hand to keep control of it in the underbrush. Once she saw him, though, she stopped, and didn’t say anything.

He looked a sight, probably, laying on a blanket with a towel over his hips that only sort of covered exactly what the tentacles were doing beneath it, and the fact that they were attached to a creature that had been straining the whole time to deposit its eggs in him.

“I… I told you it was weird,” he managed, hanging onto the edge of the towel. “But look, I… it was fine, up until it wasn’t doing anything. I tried to take 'em out, but they won’t come, and I can’t get good grip on anything.”

“I, um,” Rue said, looking shaken. “What- what should I do? Does it hurt?”

Tai shook his head. “It just won’t _do_ anything. I’ve been tryin’ already. Can you just… I dunno, try an’ get it out?”

Rue hesitated for a moment more, then picked her way carefully around the creature, staying as far away as possible. It seemed to ignore her, too busy in the throes of its contractions to bother with the newcomer as she knelt down beside Tai’s knee and folded the towel up onto his hips.

“…Goodness,” she managed, looking down at the fat tentacle and smaller appendages wormed into him, the egg pressed against him. “I, um…” She tentatively lowered her hand, sliding her fingers between the oval and Tai and gently tugging. The tentacles seized up, staying well within him. Rue tried one of the smaller tentacles then, but its slick form escaped her grasp and delved deeper into Tai alongside the others.

Tai panted. “Just… I dunno. I can take 'em, just…” he reached down again, trying to get a hand on the closest egg and push it in, and when that didn’t work, he took Rue’s hand instead, under his. “Here-”

“I- oh… Are you sure?”

He nodded.

Rue put a little pressure on the end of the egg, where it lined up with him. “I’ll- Tell me if it hurts.”

Tai let his knees slip apart a bit more, nodding again. “Just get it over with.”

Rue took her own steeling breath, then pushed on the egg. The creature, behind her, continued to expand and contract in slow, deep movements. The egg moved forward, spreading Tai wide, and he bore down, biting his lower lip. It wasn’t painful, really, it was just big- bigger than he was expecting. Thankfully its rubbery body let it conform to the motion a little, and Rue’s push let the broadest end finally breach- and then in a smooth motion, the egg slipped the rest of the way inside Tai, and he let out a breath.

“Fuuucking Christ, finally.”

Rue sat back a little, looking at Tai’s face in concern. When no pain showed, she glanced back at the eggs running down the length of the tentacle, and specifically to the one that was already lining up, taking the place of the one that she’d just helped in.

The creature pushed. The eggs pushed too, but still, it was too weak to deposit its brood. Tai groaned, letting himself fall back to the blanket. “Fuck. I shoulda stayed home at this rate.”

The tentacles inside him pushed the egg as far back as they could reach. Whatever was happening inside him, he still felt so full, and it didn’t change, not even now that the egg was firmly lodged inside him.

Clenching his fists, Tai smacked one into the ground. “ _Ugh_. It’s not- nnh. Do it again.”

“What? But-”

“It’s fine. I’m fine, but obviously it ain’t goin’ anywhere so I just gotta do it. Go again.”

Rue looked at the tentacles. She looked at the eggs still waiting for their turn. And then she put her hand against another and pressed delicately against it, moving it forward.

Tai held half a breath. “Faster- it… you can go faster _nngh_.” He was interrupted by the egg slipping in, and with that, the first being forced against his cervix and finally into his womb with the help of the smaller tentacles pushing it deep.

“Sorry!” Rue blurted, taking her hands away.

“Nh. S'fine, just. Just how it worked. Y’… gotta keep going.”

The next, Rue pressed in with slightly more confidence. Tai felt the wide end slip in and force the other egg deeper, which allowed it to follow and push its way in alongside the very first. Two down. Howevermany more to go.

It was hard to keep up a rhythm with Rue having to help and the creature weakly pushing more eggs toward them. The first few went with a slight struggle, but then they had to wait for more eggs to get closer. It did at least allow Tai room to breathe, his belly already starting to grow a little from the few eggs he’d taken.

Another three, Rue delivered into him without too much trouble, Tai’s muscles twitching and the constant feel of the tentacles working distracting him. Yet another slipped inside, weighing him down, and he squirmed against it.

“Hnnh. Do that again,” he mumbled, adjusting his knees.

Rue obliged, not much else she _could_ do, and Tai groaned around the pressure, the fill of it forced into his womb and another sitting heavy in its place.  
“C- c'mon… I wanna… more.”

He felt the egg breach, spreading him wide, pressing against the one already working deeper into him. He shivered, curling like he was going to sit up a little and supporting the motion with his clenched fists. “Ah- d- do it- please-”

An egg breached his cervix and slid in, another already trying to do the same while yet another slid into his entrance with Rue’s help. He felt like all of them were one massive thing, he felt full and abuzz with sensation, and _god_ -

The next egg slipped in and Tai came, his orgasm shuddering around the huge shapes inside him. He turned to his side, burying his face against the blanket with a noise curling at the back of his throat. By that point, Rue had stopped, worried, but it didn’t matter just then. Tai rode out the feeling and was glad, somewhere in the fog of it, that the eggs wouldn’t keep coming so long as Rue had paused.

He finally managed to breathe a few seconds later, and opened his eyes to see Rue watching him, though he couldn’t get a reading on what her face was doing. Worry, probably. Hesitance, as usual. But the rest, whatever it was, Tai couldn’t parse. He stayed on his side, the weight of the eggs already in him easier to deal with, and breathed a little bit more.

“Damn,” he said. “That was- _hah_. Uh… fuck, we gotta keep goin’, huh?”

Rue nodded silently, waiting for Tai to do what he needed to get ready.

“How many more’re there?” he asked, blinking over his shoulder.

“Um. Quite- quite a few.”

“Nnh. They’re gonna suffocate me if I stay like that. S'it work like this?” He turned his hips so that the whole of him now faced sideways, curled around his slowly growing belly.

“I… I think so, um.” Rue tried pushing at the next egg gently, but then stopped and tapped Tai’s knee,  hooking her hand under it and lifting. It took her a second to get adjusted, but once she stopped moving, she’d straddled Tai’s leg, his other balanced on her shoulder so that he was spread wide. “M- maybe this.”

She pushed, and the egg slid in, another one lining up behind it.

Tai’s cervix stretched around each wide base, and the eggs slid deliciously in, butting up against each other and stretching his womb further. He’d started the day with just a bit of pudge at his hips, but now with each egg, his stomach shifted to make room. The first and second eggs had barely been noticeable, but then there had been five and he looked like he’d eaten a bowling ball. Then there’d been eleven and he looked like someone had shoved a beach ball down his throat.

Twelve, then thirteen… Tai only knew the number because Rue kept count lowly under her breath. And god, he felt- he didn’t know how to feel. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he hoped Rue understood.

Fifteen.

Already, he felt massive. He unclenched one fist to splay a hand across his taut belly, feeling the shapes of the eggs beneath and the press of a new one shift them under his fingers. He slid his hand down, cupping under his navel and pressing- at the same time, another egg slipped into his womb and the whole clutch dragged lower.

Did Rue say twenty already? Was that before or after the newest egg? How many left? Tai couldn’t form the words around the little sounds he couldn’t help but make, breathy exclamations with each new addition. Rue gave him breathing space between them, and Tai felt them sink deep into him, felt as he widened around them and his muscles worked at the now-familiar shapes. He felt as they bulged out under his hand, clamoring to take up room inside his belly, stretching against each other and making him twitch all over again.

He slid his hand over himself, pressing against the weight. Rue mumbled “twenty two… almost done” under her breath as she forced the egg into him, and Tai felt the shape of one pass under his hand and settle among the rest of the clutch. Bending his arm around his huge belly, he stroked his fingers down over his hip and tried to feel for the tentacles and his clit, but couldn’t quite reach. Huffing a breath, he tried again- another egg slipped in, and he whined.

“Oh- did-?” Rue started, but Tai shook his head, squirming as best he could under the weight of the brood.

“Nnh. ’M so close,” he complained, voice husky and face pushed against the ground. “I wanna come-”

Rue’s face turned brilliantly red, and she stuttered more than usual. “Oh, I, that is- um-”

Tai shifted again, grinding against the few remaining eggs trying to breach him. He curled his toes, and moved his leg where Rue straddled it, pushing his knee against her thigh. “Pleeease. Jus’ touch-”

Rue licked her lips, letting out a wavery breath. One hand she laid against the form of another egg. The other she laid carefully on Tai’s gravid belly. He whined again, trying to hook his knee over her shoulder and pull her closer. So she let her fingers slide lower over his taut skin, through his pubic hair.

Tai shuddered. “Nh…” And then Rue eased her fingers along his slit to lubricate them with the creature’s silvery slime. She slid the touch over his clit, and he convulsed. “ _Ah_ \- f- fuck-” he started, and Rue paused, but Tai wheezed a breath before she could ask. “ _Please_.”

He thought for a moment Rue wouldn’t do it. That her ever-present nerves would get the better of her and that would be it.

But then, gloriously, her hand moved, a slow stroke, and Tai shoved his face against the dirt, moaning.

Rue’s fingertip circled his clit once, then again. Tai’s knee twitched and at the same time, she pushed one of the few remaining eggs into him, stretching him wide, filling him and causing another deep slip into his belly.

Another egg. Tai shuddered, curling in on himself and panting against his balled fist. “O- oh, god, Rue!”

She said nothing in return, focused on the rhythm she could impart with her fingers, the press of a few more of the brood, and Tai clung to the blanket beneath him, whimpering, quivering on the brink of release. The penultimate egg slipped into Tai and he gaped silently, bucking into it.

One last egg. Tai’s leg locked over her shoulder as he worked his hips against her hands, so close, so-

The bulge spread him wide and he bore down without thought, that part of his brain fuzzy. “It- ah- _fuck_ , Rue, put it in-”

He gasped as she did just that, her thumb in a quick rhythm against his clit. The egg disappeared into him, forcing the one before beyond Tai’s cervix. Rue took it upon herself to push further, her fingers sliding into him, working the final egg like the smaller tentacles, but with more direction. Tai’s muscles spasmed in a thrumming orgasm, tight around the tentacles and Rue’s fingers, but that extra help pushed the egg just far enough that the ovipositor could contract once more, using the momentum to heave against the opening and deposit its last offspring.

Tai hardly felt it. He moaned, wrenched in on himself while every fiber of his being relished and rejected the jolting of his muscles. Rue had let her hands slip away from him as she felt him come, then shimmied to a spot more readily in his vision and covered his clenched hand with hers and watched as the largest tentacle retracted, popping free from Tai with a dull _plap_.

And then it was the small tentacles’ turn again. Each of the three of them bundled to the back of his entrance and wormed their way beyond his cervix to nestle into the clutch. They squirmed between the eggs, one moving close enough under his navel that Tai could see the shape of it before it disappeared, while the other two rubbed their way against his inner flesh.

The creature pulsed, its tentacles throbbing, and its seed gushed into Tai with a gurgle, filling the spaces left by the oval eggs. Another pulse, and more hot come coated the brood.

Two more tired pumps, and Tai’s distended belly felt heavy with the slosh of come. He breathed a tired, contented sigh, the tentacles finally seeming sated as they delved between the bodies of their offspring, almost as if they were stirring the eggs to make sure each got its fair share of the hot, sticky fluid.

As simply as they slid in, and with no more than a twitch from Tai, the tentacles eased their way from inside him, leaving stringy trails of silvery come between his legs as they retreated back to the much smaller main body and disappeared beneath its fleshy skirt.

Tai let a good several minutes go by. In that time, Rue reached with her free hand to unravel the towel from where it lay half under Tai and toss it awkwardly over his hips. Both of their breathing calmed, and the heady ecstacy of the finale cleared itself from Tai’s mind.

“Fuck,” he said, letting out a long sigh. That about summed up all he needed to say.

“You did, um… well,” Rue murmured, not having let go of his hand. “Twenty-five is a- a lot of eggs.”

“That many? Goddamn, no wonder.” He pressed his hand against his belly, the taut skin still somewhat pliable beneath his fingers. He wasn’t entirely sure, but looking at himself, he felt like he was almost as big or bigger than the end stages of his second pregnancy. The way he was laying, his belly extended, gorged, in front of him, oval like the eggs it currently housed. Thank god Rue was here or he doubted he’d be able to stand up. He still tried to roll over, getting his legs under him so at the very least he wouldn’t have to lay down anymore, and managed to sit, knees spread around the curve of his gravid belly, which he massaged to get the eggs to settle into the new hanging position.

“Fuck,” he said again, quieter, as he looked down at himself.

He could just barely make out some of the curves of the eggs lower in his abdomen, the mass of them protruding just where his binder ended at his chest. He had to breathe a little shallowly because of the way they’d all squeezed into him, shifting his organs higher and flatter up into even his lungs. But… he felt content. He felt full and heavy, and he could already visualize the way the eggs would start to move against each other, how much more he’d grow. He wiggled his hips, feeling just the slightest pressure, not bad, not weird, but indicative of the clutch nestled in him. And for a moment he forgot himself, glancing up and smiling at Rue as if she’d been the one to impregnate him with her vast brood. 

Not… that she hadn’t helped, actually. But Tai quickly glanced away, rubbing the side of his belly gently. “So, um… I can get my pants on an’ we can go,” he offered.

“I, um… actually, if you could, um, give me a few minutes, I, ah…” Rue had turned brilliantly red again, keeping her hands folded in her lap and her glance away from his. She shifted slightly, and Tai looked at her hands, then at her face, and a slow realization dawned on him.

“Well, I kinda want to get outta here, so I’ll show you how to fix it.” He leaned, taking her elbow and tugging. “Up.”

She hesitated, then rose, carefully taking her arm away so she could fold both hands in front of her, unsubtly hiding the erection beneath her skirt.

“See,” Tai said, touching her ankle and pausing when she shivered. “I’ve done this before, so you don’t even gotta do anything.” He brushed his hand higher, over her calf and then her knee, and pushed her skirt up so his other hand could follow.

He rubbed his thumbs along the insides of her thighs and the whole of her jerked, and she finally dropped her hands, one to his head, the other trying for his shoulder and instead clinging to another part of her skirt. “O- oh,” she breathed, already fully hard- Tai could see her straining against the surprisingly lacy panties under her demure outer clothing. He readjusted himself, not used to having to work around his big belly, but managing all the same, and slipped his fingertips under the waistband of her panties, sliding them gently down her hips to free her from their constraints.

“You liked watching me, hm?” he mused, running his palms over the crease where thigh met hip, and Rue made a little whimpery noise, the hand on her skirt flying up to cover her mouth. She didn’t quite cling to his hair; probably she thought his scalp was going to be sensitive. “You don’t have to tell me, it’s pretty obvious.”

Tai might have been a loud mouth everywhere else, but he was especially talkative during sex. He liked telling people what to do to him, and what he was going to do in return. He loved telling them filthy things, just to see how much of an effect it had on them, how far he could push them before even touching them. Usually, he teased, mocking his partner for how quickly they were riled up, or egging them on so they’d fuck him silly. But in this case… he took his time. There was no point in teasing Rue, and really, he didn’t want to. It felt a bit wrong to bring up how red her face was, or how much she trembled at his slightest touch.

He moved his hand, replacing his palm with his nose and mouth and hanging onto the back of her knee so Rue would stay put. She didn’t speak, but she did make noises every time something changed. Tai smirked against her inner thigh, then curled his fingers around the base of her cock. She bucked into it, struggling to stay standing on her weak knees, and Tai guided the tip into his mouth, flattening his tongue along the underside.

Rue’s fingers in his hair tightened, still not enough to be painful at all, but enough to tell him she was hanging on. Her muffled squeal dribbled from behind her hand. Tai pursed his lips, curling his tongue, then backed off a little, still holding her steady at her base. “Fuck,” he said, licking his lips. “You’re big, but I think I can manage.”

She twitched her hips as he dragged his tongue up the underside of her cock, then enveloped the head and slid down without hesitation to meet his hand. Both hand and mouth moved, and Rue gasped an astounded, “T- _Tai_!” while she curled into herself as if to escape and yet also to spread her knees.

He chuckled, drawing back and dipping down again. He felt her cock twitch against the roof of his mouth, and squeezed the shaft gently to allow himself one more slide of his tongue, flattening it against the tip before he took her fully in.

Rue made a noise halfway between a shout and scream, the edge of a sob in it, and came against the back of Tai’s throat, her cock throbbing with the pent-up seed. Tai swallowed a couple times to clear his mouth, then drew back, panting, and licked the remaining few strands from Rue’s slick shaft.

“Mmn,” he mumbled, resting his cheek on her inner thigh. “There, better?”

She still clung to his hair, an absolute mess of flushed skin and tremoring limbs, but managed a nod when he glanced up at her.

“I’ll get dressed, an’ then we can go, yeah?”

One last nod, and Rue finally sank down as Tai extricated himself from her grip to crawl to his back for his clothes.


	7. Chapter 7

The ride back to Rue’s apartment was awkward, to say the least. Tai, heavy and full of over two dozen huge eggs, needed her help not only to put his pajama bottoms on, but also to move the front passenger seat back so he could slide in. Even with some messing around and trying to get his seatbelt on, Tai had to end up simply holding it mostly closed over his girth. **  
**

Oh, yeah, and he’d sucked Rue’s dick, so that was an unveiled topic of conversation that he knew she wouldn’t want to talk about.

So they drove home in silence, as the sky darkened from afternoon rust into evening gray, up until Tai turned on the radio just for the sake of background noise.

He knew it was weird, too. That was what stopped him from talking about it, or making light of the fact that Rue had basically assisted with his forced impregnation of what was either a weird animal’s or more likely an alien’s spawn. Usually, he would offer something- anything- and then snipe back at the person who commented first, but not with Rue. He still kind of hoped she understood, but he didn’t want to risk her embarrassment over her body’s own response, funnily enough. He just wanted it to go smoothly. He didn’t want her to kick him out. Or worse yet, want to kick him out but think she was unable because of his ‘condition.’

So when he finally stopped fidgeting with the seatbelt between his hands and said, “that went well,” he didn’t really know what to expect.

What happened was that Rue’s face flushed as she turned into her parking space. “It- um. Something like that,” she mumbled, and turned off the car. And then, in what seemed like an effort to skip over that conversation, she opened her door and added, “I’ll help you out.”

And Tai… well, he took the help without more than a nod, Rue bracing and hefting him up with Tai’s own helpful grip on the edge of the door and his knees spread wide to keep the weight even. Once to his feet, he could at least waddle along on his own, to Rue’s blessedly street-level door. He did, vaguely, wonder what the neighbors thought, if they even paid attention. Most of the time, just like Rue’s, their blinds were closed but that didn’t mean they couldn’t snoop around. Not that there was anything weirder than the sudden appearance of his pregnant belly going on, and even if they _did_ gossip, what more was there to say? This was a gentrified neighborhood; it wasn’t like they could call the cops on him and get anything out of it.

Still. He hurried inside and closed the door behind them both.

What he expected after that was for Rue to hole herself up in her room until such time that she forced herself outside of its confines. What he got was her crossing over to the kitchen and the sink turning on, an indication that she was making tea. The pop of the kettle’s on button confirmed it. He stood there, back already starting to feel the twinge from the weight balanced at his lower abdomen, and then decided it was best just to stay quiet for now. He took one of the pillows from the couch and put it in the second of the two high-backed chairs that adorned the living room. With that behind his back, he levered himself down and let out a breath.

Oof. Already he felt like he shouldn’t be as big as he was- with his elbows at his sides, he couldn’t touch his fingertips over his belly at all, the mass hanging round and heavy and taut. He rubbed the heel of his hand over it, pressing enough to be able to feel the shapes within him, and if he pushed hard enough, he thought he could maybe even get them to shift under the pressure.

What he _should_ do was shower. He was still damp with sweat and come- both his and the creature’s- and he smelled like sex and dirt. He just didn’t think he had the energy just then. He’d been out in the woods for a good while, wandering around, and the creature’s weak attempts at impregnating him had taken long enough even aside from Rue coming to help. Leaning back, Tai closed his eyes, the slow, repetitive motion of stroking his engorged belly lulling him into a haze.

He did at one point hear vague footsteps and the sound of a teacup and saucer being placed on the coffee table, but he only opened his eyes a sliver before letting them close again. The next disturbance came a few moments afterward, with a tentative touch on his shoulder and a mumbled, “Tai?”

“Mn,” he answered, face scrunching. He blinked.

“If you're… why not sleep in… in a bed?”

“But then I gotta get up,” he grumbled back.

“I’ll help,” Rue offered, taking his elbow. He sighed and let her pull him to his feet, then guide him into the spare room. She stayed next to him while he sank down, then as he turned and adjusted to get comfortable on his side, she fluffed the pillows and arranged them between his legs and behind his back and under his brood-thickened belly. As her penultimate act, she threw a blanket over him and tucked it over his shoulder, and then, very briefly, touched his hair, brushing her fingers through his bangs.

And then she left him to sleep.

 

When Tai finally woke, the sun was long-up. His hand went, almost automatically, to his belly, stroking over the rounded surface, then harder, pushing so that the eggs sloshed against each other and resettled. He sighed, pushing himself up, more used to the weight than he had been before, and much less exhausted.

He took his time gathering new clothes, digging through to find the biggest T-shirt he could, and a stretchy pair of cotton pajama bottoms. All the while, his belly dragged at him, stretched and full, but at the same time, the thought of Rue’s quiet pulled at him too. Maybe… after this, he should get out of her hair. Make it less awkward. Give her her room back. Not that he _wanted_ to, it might just be better.

Undecided, he slunk across the tiny hall, as well as he could, to the bathroom.

He wanted a hot shower, hot enough to scrub the filth from his skin all by itself, but he couldn’t stand that temperature. As it was, the eggs seemed to keep him cool, like they were little ice cubes, so when he did try turning on hot water and the steam began to build, the disparity started to make him sick so he turned it down just enough to be comfortable but not cool.

Despite that, he stayed in the shower for a while, washing the grime from his hair, soaping up a loofah and cleaning every inch of himself he could reach, and letting the water run over his head as he leaned against the wall with his belly hanging low.

The mirror had barely fogged up by the time he got out and toweled himself off, and sat on the closed toilet to pull his pants on. Usually, he ignored his reflection, it never being exactly what he wanted, but with the condensation already having gone he didn’t have much choice, and what he saw… What he saw was himself, hair cut short enough to be a shaggy black mess, a determined pinch to his oval features. He’d already resigned himself to being unable to wear his binder, previous experience telling him it was a bad idea if he wanted to, you know, breathe, and so his breasts hung free. However, under the oversized shirt and against his massive middle, they looked almost like he was wearing his binder anyway. He ran his hands under his belly, pushing at it to force the eggs to move.

He looked… like he wanted to look. It was a weird feeling, knowing that was actually _himself_ , and not what anyone else wanted him to be.

Tai left the bathroom with the ghost of a smile on his face. He found Rue in the kitchen, a tupperware and cooking pot in hand.

“Oh, um,” she said, as he padded in. “I- I didn’t know when you- um. When you’d be up so I- I was putting this away, but, um… if you’re hungry…?”

She offered him the tupperware, a portion of mac and cheese in it, half-covering a piece of chicken. Considering she was vegetarian, she must have made it with him in mind. It… made him feel a way, that she remembered, or even cared.

He took the tupperware. “Thanks.”

Then came a pause. Rue looked at him. He reached like he was going to take a fork, but didn’t open the drawer. “Hey,” he started. “So… when this is over, you just… want me to go? 'Cause then it doesn’t gotta be weird, and I’ve got all this other stuff to keep me going so I won’t mooch off you anymore…”

Rue tilted her head. “I- you don't… have to go,” she said, her tone making it a question. Her nose went subtly pink. “Or I… if you want to go, you- you can but- Tai, I want you to stay- here.”

“Yeah, 'cause it’s safe, but if I don’t do this anymore-” this he said with a gesture at his huge belly- “then I’ll be fine. And you can have your room back, and it won’t be weird.”

“Tai, I don’t- it… it doesn’t matter. It wasn’t- it…” Her blush burned deeper, and she curled her hands in her skirt. For a moment, she went quiet, and then she mumbled, “I liked it.”

“…Oh,” Tai said, not really sure how to reply to that. She’d liked it. Well yeah, she better have- Tai damn well knew what he was doing when it came to sucking cock. And of course her body had betrayed her in the first place, but for her to admit it? “Hah.” He laughed feebly. “Could always try an’ get away with rent payments courtesy of BJ.”

“What- I…” A pause. “ _Oh_ \- n- no- Tai, I-”

“Kidding! Kidding, jeez, don’t have a heart attack.”

Her blush hadn’t faded. Rue wrung her hands, avoiding his glance, and nodded silently in confirmation.

“Look, I just don’t like owing stuff,” Tai clarified.

Rue nodded. “But you-”

“Yeah, you said I didn’t. I’m just making sure I don’t end up owing you any more, 'cause I know I do, for that, an’ don’t say I don’t, 'cause minus the dick suck, that was a fuckin’ _mess_.”

He turned to take a fork as Rue contemplated his meaning. “That's… Tai, you still don’t. I- it’s fine if you think you do but… but I don’t. You pay rent and- and you cook, and clean, and… you’re- you’re good company. So… I want you to stay.”

Tai poked at the macaroni. He shifted his weight, his back protesting, and set the bowl down so he could dig his knuckles into the swell of his abdomen. “…Okay,” he finally said. There wasn’t much more he could say. Staying, that was what he wanted, too.

“You… you should relax,” Rue said. “I can make tea.”

“Okay,” Tai said again, and meant it.

***

Over the next few days, Tai and Rue fell back into routines. As big as this brood was- his belly already pushed out as if he was carrying a set of late-stage triplets, and no doubt going to expand even more- there was little he could do that didn’t put strain on his back or legs and cause them to flare with pain. He did still try to stay active, waddling around the apartment, trying his hand at more complicated recipes, and at least making an effort to clean. But really all that made him was quickly achy and tired, and relegated to either laying in bed or sitting in a chair with pillows for extra support.

He couldn’t help but notice Rue’s insistence that he _stay_ on bedrest, too. He did as much as he dared, of course, but when he ran out of energy, Rue was there immediately, encouraging him to relax, guiding him to the closest comfortable surface. She _doted_ on him, was what he realized. He didn’t have to get up or move to get anything, nor did he have to ask with the way Rue kept checking on him.

And she liked it, too. She smiled, small of course, but a vastly different expression to the quietly worried pinch or hesitant purse that she normally wore. While Tai wanted to refuse the help he carefully kept himself silent on the matter, but did at least keep his requests to a minimum since that feeling of owing her still sat at the back of his mind.

As the days went on, though, he got restless. Where he would usually be walking, he was sitting, and the months without being pregnant had been so wildly different that when he did become tired much easier, he also became grumpy. He _wanted_ to go outside and _wanted_ to walk or go dancing, but it wasn’t just the weight that concerned him. A small part of him still welled with anxiety at the thought of leaving home without his binder, not to mention that his generally male-looking self would draw a lot of eyes where such a heavy and awkward pregnancy came into play. They didn’t live a small-town life, not in the least, so their neighbors knew their faces but not much else, and yet even Tai coming home the first day surely would have raised some questions and eyebrows.

That, and the stirrings of the creatures inside their shells had begun. Tai hadn’t even noticed it right away, and it wasn’t until he’d simply been sitting and a sudden tremor gurgled through his belly that he remembered it at all. He pressed his hand onto the brood, and another small shift came from the eggs, signaling they were one step further into their development. And that told him it was also going to get worse.

So Tai did the best he could, but there was only so much even Rue could do when he became frustrated. They at least worked out a sort of late-night schedule, Rue helping him to the car after the streetlights had long-come on, and driving to the only nearby park that was open after dusk. It was usually empty, the occasional late runner or guy with a dog happening by, and no questions asked when Rue followed after.

There was yet another problem, though, and that was that Tai was restless all around. He took up a good deal of time on six or eight of his projects at once, keeping his hands busy, and of course Rue stayed busy with her own work and clients. But Tai felt _squirmy_ , even more than the movements of the eggs made him. He finally gave into it late one afternoon when Rue’s client had finished their appointment.

He waddled into the living room, almost a week and a half gone by and his belly having expanded to match, very definitely looking as if he was either carrying quadruplets or he’d swallowed a rather large dog. Rue sat on the couch, gathering up her tarot cards and putting them away, and Tai sat next to her, then turned and leaned against her like a pillow.

“Um, hello, Tai. Did you… need something, since I’m finished?”

He sighed, adjusting a little, and Rue put her card deck aside, running her fingers through his hair soothingly. Or what he thought was meant to be soothingly. Right then, it just made him more desperate. “I want sex,” he said, and Rue’s hand paused.

“I- um-”

“I don’t care what,” Tai continued, turning so he could sit up more, against the back of the couch, then clambering awkwardly to try and crawl closer to Rue. “I'll… suck your dick, or you can fuck me, or something, I just wanna get off.”

“Tai-”

“Please, fuck me,” he whined, halfway to crawling into her lap, though his girth didn’t allow much more.

“ _Tai_ , it’s okay,” Rue insisted, resting her hand on his arm. He quieted, and she patted him. Despite her blush, she smiled softly. “I can… I’ll always help.”

She looked at him, and he looked down at himself, and back up. “The… the bed will be… easier for you,” she continued, standing and offering her hands so Tai could heft himself from the couch.

And now- not that he wasn’t thinking about it before- but now he was very aware of the anticipation of what came next. He followed after, Rue having not let go of his hand, whether subconscious or not, and while no one was going to come into the apartment, he shut his bedroom door behind them.

Tai eased himself onto the edge of the bed, but again didn’t let go of Rue’s hand. He kept her there, murmuring, “Hang on,” before he let go and proceeded to try and slide to the floor. It took Rue a moment, and a questioning noise, before she helped him sink to his knees, his belly nestled between them, wide and round. One of the eggs jostled and sent a few others into their own movements; the curves of their shells distended Tai’s belly as they changed position.

“C'mere,” he said, changing his grip and tugging her closer, pushing her to stand. Just from that, and the way he let his hand linger on the front of her skirt, he could tell she was getting hard.

And this time, instead of sliding his hands up under her skirt, he brushed them over her hips, finding her waistband and tugging it down so it pooled around her feet. “Y'know,” he said as he ran his hands over her soft thighs, “It’s funny to me how you wear them fancy underwear.”

He hooked his fingers under the lace of her panties, pulling them down and letting her straining erection bounce free. She whimpered, knees twitching, and he leaned into her leg. “Don’t get me wrong, I like 'em on you. Just goes to show what kinda person you are… under all them skirts and long sleeves.”

“I- I-” she started, but didn’t get far. Tai flattened his hand under her navel and drug it downward, pressing his palm over her cock and then wrapping his fingers around it.

“You should facefuck me,” he mumbled, sitting up just enough to brush his lips over the tip. She shuddered, and he opened his mouth, settling her on his tongue. He knew she wouldn’t; she was too gentle so far to even think of it, maybe even thinking she might hurt him somehow. So he left it at that and took it upon himself to do the fucking for her.

He stuck his tongue out as far as he could, bathing the underside of her clock with saliva and closing his lips over the tip. She jerked under his hands, and he smirked, especially when her flustered hands found places to grip- one clinging to the hem of her blouse and the other settling in his hair. With that, Tai adjusted a little, scooting forward, his belly brushing her shins and her stance widening just a little, both for her own balance and so he could get closer. And closer he got, leaning to take her almost fully into his mouth, schooling the urge to gag as her cock brushed the back of his throat.

Rue twitched like she wanted to thrust, but kept herself in check and let Tai do as he liked. Hand still around the base of her shaft, he squeezed gently, stroking as he pulled back, tongue pushed to the underside of her cock and lips pursed. He only managed to stroke twice more before Rue’s grip tightened.

“W-wait,” she panted, and he paused, nose brushing her pubic hair. Deliberately, she let go of his hair. “You should… get- get back on the bed.”

Tai’s face pinched. He pursed his lips and dragged his mouth over Rue’s cock, letting it go with a pop. “But I wanted-”

“I know.” Rue breathed. “Just… please.”

Tai hesitated, then let his hands drop from Rue. She reached to help him up, and with effort, he returned to sitting on the edge of the bed. She took up her skirt as well, pulling it back over her hips; it tented over her erection.

“Be right back,” she mumbled, and stepped away, leaving Tai wet and needy and- he glanced at the floor, where she’d left her panties. …Oh.

She returned maybe a minute later, seeming unchanged. She even left her panties where she’d stepped out of them and instead went to Tai, touching his arm again. “Lay down?”

This time, he did so without argument. He could still see the way her skirt lay, showing off how hard she was. Tai lay down on his side, and Rue took the time to at least put a pillow under his heavy belly.

“Tai,” she murmured, hand lingering, then brushing down the front of his belly and to his side, and then his hip. “There's… there’s something about you. I don’t- I don’t know what… it is,” she said, hooking her fingers under his pajama pants’ waistband and tugging at them.

Tai, now fully understanding exactly what Rue was planning, shifted so she could free him from his pants. He struggled briefly with his shirt too, ducking into the tent of fabric and shoving it off as best he could. Rue, meanwhile, shimmied her skirt off. Her erection bobbed free, that minute she’d spent now revealed in the condom it wore, and Tai squirmed in anticipation.

“Aw, fuck, Rue-” he started, and she moved, sliding her hand under his knee and raising it, opening him wide to her.

“I'll… I’ll take care of you,” she said, rubbing his raised leg and guiding herself into his damp and waiting slit.

Tai took her easily; Rue sank into him, Tai bearing down against the sensation. It wasn’t like the tentacles, not wiggly and squirmy, but just a solid, constant pressure, the drag of Rue’s cock against his inner walls, the texture of the condom playing at his slit. “ _Oh_ , god, yes, fuck. That.”

Rue stayed put, her thumb rubbing Tai’s leg. “I- I like you, Tai,” she said softly. And then she began to thrust, and Tai fell into a wash of feeling.

Each thrust picked up into a rhythm, and before long, the slap of skin-on-skin timed with how the push and drag moved Tai’s body, back and forth. His belly, too, moved, but out of synch; Tai clung to the blankets with one hand, the other pressed flat under his girth and feeling the shape of the eggs, how the movement pressed them against each other and how they in turn moved, as if they were complaining against the rocking motion. As Rue picked up speed, she angled differently, spreading her knees wider so that she sank fully into him each time. Tai shivered, panting, head tilted into the mattress. The eggs jangled against each other, and then they shifted, making and filling space in a new configuration; Tai felt the pressure change and groaned, and Rue did him one better in sliding her hand over his and pressing, then sneaking beneath his belly to find his clit.

Fingers damp from his wetness, she slipped them across herself and his slit, then over his clit, and Tai came undone. He shuddered to orgasm, mouth open and silent against the feeling. Rue thrust twice more and leaned over him, buried deep, as she, too, came, thick and hot even behind the barrier of the condom.

Rue stayed in him, Tai’s leg clamped over her and preventing her moving anyway. “Are- are you okay?” she asked quietly after several moments.

Tai laughed breathily, taking a few big gulps of air, then moved his leg and pulled at Rue’s arm. “M'good.”

Rue went willingly, turning and pressing herself to Tai’s back, and then after a moment, sliding her hand over his belly too. Tai, warm and sated, also suddenly realized he felt… content. Comfortable, and right. Something about that made him tense, but Rue petted his belly, and tucked her face against his hair, and it slowly bled away.

That was, until- “Rue?”

“Hm?”

“I gotta pee.”

***

Tai didn’t want to think about what was to come. The eggs needed to be-… 'born,’ was the closest word either of them used for it. And really, it was Rue that started worrying. Tai’s stomach strained against the huge eggs, and Rue had wondered if he could even manage to have them without some sort of medical involvement. They both understood that Tai even going to a doctor or hospital for an ultrasound would make news at the very least, and have him put under observation and testing, let alone anything else. So they came to the mutual agreement that whatever happened, happened, unless it went really wrong.

There was no under-the radar doctor as far as Rue could find, but she did put an emergency number in her phone, just in case.

Planning the rest of it, however, proved difficult.

If Tai had them at home, then there was the issue of transporting them back to water, but the overall process would be more private, and they wouldn’t have to worry about being in the dirt while Tai was in labor. On the other hand, the creek wasn’t too far away; once Tai went into labor, they could load some things into the car and get him close to the water, or even in it.

To Tai, both options sucked. Having to stay holed up didn’t do him any mental good despite the privacy, but being outside, there was always the risk of a passerby. Not that he was much for thinking clearly about it anyway; the little creatures in the eggs grew more and more wiggly each day. Tai could not only feel them moving almost constantly, but could see them more frequently, too, in the way the eggs slipped against each other, pushing in and out and distending him around their soft shells so that his belly looked lumpy with them. They reacted to his own changes in position too, his stomach hanging low and heavy when he stood, or squashing longer like a torpedo when he lay down.

Two days later, with the eggs settled into a sort of loop of activity- sloshing and jangling against each other whether Tai was up and about or sitting-, Rue presented a sort of third option. No doubt it would be uncomfortable for a little while, but she suggested, showing Tai a map on her phone, one of the national parks. Trailheads littered those types of areas for miles, and if they drove as far as they could, they could make their leisurely way closer to the mountains and the creeks and rivers there.

Tai pursed his lips, but it did make sense. If they packed and camped for a couple days, they killed a couple birds at once. Up closer to the mountains would keep them away from prying eyes for not only the birth but for depositing the eggs in the water. The only problem lay in what might happen if things went awry, but Rue worried more about that than Tai did. He had to _not_ think about it, because if he did, he’d go down a rabbit hole. Besides, there wasn’t any other way _to_ do it.

So he agreed, and they set about packing supplies.

He’d not been keeping track of how long his pregnancies had been, exactly. All he knew was it was something like a couple weeks. This time, it was a bit easier to keep track, even with the rush to put everything together for their camping trip, and they were nearing a sort of mid-end point, with maybe a couple days left, if they were right. Which meant, for the most part, that they had to go out shopping instead of buying things online.

Tai wasn’t so big that Rue could justify leaving him behind, either, even with the constant shifting of the brood. He frowned at her when she suggested it, more out of his own restlessness but also because he knew the entire reason she’d hired him for shopping in the first place was her fear of people. So he went with her, wearing his biggest shirt and his hoodie with the hood up. Leaning on shopping carts helped a great deal, too, not to mention that a Wal-Mart spree wasn’t exactly the classiest of options. But then, it was at least a one-stop trip.

They returned home probably a bit overloaded with sleeping bags, a tent, extra and larger clothes for Tai, a few days worth of canned and dried groceries, and a few other things that included a firestarter, tin plates and cups, and a first aid kit. It looked like too much stuff, if Tai was honest, but at the same time, the food wouldn’t go to waste, and the other things they could use around the house. Plus, it was easy enough just to leave them in the car and add to it the remaining backpacks they’d already packed.

And then… well, then it was just time to wait for the uneventful days to be over.

Being that neither of them knew the _when_ , Tai took the liberty of pretending to be Rue’s assistant, switching the few remaining clients she had to the next week over the phone, since she hemmed and hawed and felt abysmal for having to do it, whereas Tai didn’t give a lick. And Tai, unoccupied with a steady job, was ready to go as soon as Rue was.

He, with her help and one hand rubbing his knuckles into the side of his belly, waddled to the car. She helped him in, hand lingering on his shoulder, then shut the door while he arranged the seatbelt across his massive girth and held it in place, the straps far too short for him to even try and buckle it.

But at this time of year, traffic up to the mountains would be light, and Rue, to Tai’s mind, drove a bit like an old woman anyway.


	8. Chapter 8

The drive, like the past several days, was uneventful. And really, they’d landed the perfect time to take a little vacation. The national parks usually kept marked trails fenced in the off season, but with spring having begun, the roads had opened, despite the lack of tourism. They passed five or six before picking one almost totally hidden by a bush to one side- even they had passed it at first and then turned back around. Rue’s car wasn’t exactly off-road friendly, but she took the dirt track slowly, potholes becoming short dips and washboard gravel at least not rattling their teeth free.

The road ambled along for a couple miles, thick underbrush and moss hiding the bases of the trees. The forest wasn’t thick enough to blot out light, but it wasn’t thin enough to angle a car in between the trunks; mottled sunlight bathed the ground before them.

The trees thinned a few minutes later and Rue slowed, pulling as far off the road as she could. Tai looked up from the map he was consulting on his phone and rolled down his window.

“I think there’s a river. It says there’s a bridge, too.” He quieted, listening. “Sounds like _something_ , anyhow.”

“I think… we’re as close as- as we can get,” Rue agreed. “Stay here.”

She got out of the car, hitching up her skirt so it would ’t get caught on any of the underbrush. Thankfully, it looked like all the smaller plants remained flatter to the ground, because Rue walked along without much trouble. She made her way closer to the noise as far as Tai could tell, and stopped probably twenty feet away to turn back.

“The- the river is high. But it has a… a bank.” She gestured with her hand, drawing a flat plane that dropped and then curved downward.

“So here’s good?” Tai asked, opening his door to get out.

“I think so. I… think it’s the best we can do.”

Tai nodded. Anything, probably, was worse. He trusted Rue’s judgment anyhow. And parked this close, they didn’t really even have to worry about hiking anywhere. “I wanna stick the tent poles together.”

They ended up taking quite a few breaks, the brood’s movement quickly sapping Tai’s energy so that Rue had to do most of the arranging. Using the tent for storage rather than sleeping made much more sense once they’d emptied out the back of the car, too.  The seats in Rue’s old hatchback folded flat once their supplies were gone, and with the driver’s and passenger’s seats pushed all the way forward there was enough space for even Rue to stretch out, and she was taller than Tai by almost six inches. Tai did have to take a bit of effort to climb into it, but with a few pieces of foam arranged inside, sleeping bags and pillows for both her and Tai, it was damn near homey.

That, and neither of them begrudged the warmth of lying next to each other, Rue’s arm slid over Tai’s middle, undisturbed save for the fluttery movements within.

Everything was so simple. Or seemed that way.

The second evening of their woodland stay had Tai in a bit of pain. The car was definitely better than the ground, but it was nothing like the bed back at the apartment. He did get sleep eventually, but the seats squeaked when he moved, and while the river in the background kept up some white noise, the otherwise resounding quiet gnawed at him as much as any sound would have. So the lack of sleep put him in a sour mood, and the stiffness didn’t do him any better. All he ended up being was antsy.

His back hurt, his legs hurt, and his belly hung heavy so that he felt like he needed to support it with one or both hands. He paced, digging his knuckles into the brood, leaning against a tree every so often so he might try and get the eggs to change position in a more comfortable way than they were trying to do on their own. They gurgled and sloshed in his womb, wiggling against each other, pressing into his hips and making him desperate for any sort of relief, but the most he could get was just trying to sleep.

He’d crawled into the car early in the evening, before their fire had even burned low. Rue stayed out with it as the sky darkened, and a few hours later, Tai felt the dip of her weight crawling in beside him.

“M'not asleep,” he mumbled, having spent the last little while rubbing at the underside of his belly and the achy, tired muscles.

“I- I didn’t wake you up?” Rue asked, finding his hip with her hand.

“Didn’t even sleep.”

“Maybe we- we should have brought some, um. Some sleep aid.” Rue patted his hip and lay down at his back so she could rub with her knuckles.

“I dunno,” he replied, closing his eyes and continuing to massage. “Would that even help? They won’t shut the hell up.”

In response, a few of the eggs wiggled, which wiggled most of the rest, and the whole brood shifted against each other. Tai bit the inside of his cheek as his muscles reacted, squeezing at them. “Ouch, goddamn it.”

“O-oh dear,” Rue murmured, reaching back over to rub with the heel of her palm too. “At least try.”

“Been,” Tai grumped. But there was little else _to_ do but try and sate his tiredness. He closed his eyes and concentrated on Rue’s gentle rubbing over his belly and the brood.

 

Tai woke to pain. He opened his eyes and briefly wondered if he had, in fact, opened his eyes. It was deeply dark out, the moon hidden by clouds and trees, and nothing but the small red indicator light of Rue’s in-car phone charger.

Rue’s arm had settled across his middle, her fingers curled against the waiting eggs, and Tai lay still, only his eyes shifting to glance at the blackness outside the window. His hips hurt, as did his back, but the eggs were strangely quiet for all the squirming they’d done the day before. Every so often Tai felt a small movement, but no more, like they were asleep, or like they were waiting.

And yet, something felt different. He felt _heavier_ , as if the whole brood was pulling on him even as he lay with his belly propped on pillows and blankets. He felt like he had to pee.

He moved a little, shrugging Rue’s arm off, and reached for the car door. In order to get out that way, he had to turn feet first and then slide sideways a little and push himself to his feet. It was a bit of an ordeal, but he managed it, although the squeak and movement of the whole car stirred Rue.

“Tai?” she mumbled.

“Uh-huh,” he said back. “Bathroom.”

“Mm. If you-”

“I’m okay. Won’t go ten feet.”

Rue didn’t reply, which was good enough for him. He eased the door closed and leaned on it until he heard it click, then stayed for a bit longer. When he’d stood up properly, the eggs had shifted again to sit low in him. His hips protested the change, as did most of the rest of him, and as he pushed himself away from the car, he dug his knuckles into his side to try and focus on something else.

It wasn’t until the next slow bleed of pain that he realized what was happening. He’d taken a slow and waddling walk around to the other side of the car, leaned against a tree to give himself a short rest, then used the flashlight on his phone to illuminate the path that led closer to the water. As the sound of the river gurgling over the rocks became louder, a wash of pain oozed from Tai’s hips and under his belly, spreading across the entirety of his torso and squeezing. It didn’t knock the wind from him, but it did startle him into stopping, both hands cupped over the throb. Somewhere inside him, an egg jostled, and a pressure pulled at him.

“…Fuck,” he muttered. A quick look at his phone told him the sun wouldn’t be up for hours yet- it was barely one in the morning. Which meant the birth was happening _now_ , and it was happening in the dark.

It took him several long minutes to return to the car. He had to stop three times- once to ride out the pain, then once to rest his back, then another so that he wouldn’t crumple from the ache.

Yet another wave- a contraction, he was sure, nothing else felt like that- hit him so that he had to lean against the car and wait for it to be over. There was a constant burn in his hips now; he felt like if he had to walk, it would be slow and cumbersome, the waddle more pronounced as he subconsciously widened his stance.

He opened the car door. “Rue.”

She let out a long sigh, tucked warmly into her sleeping bag. Tai almost felt loathe to wake her, but he didn’t want to be alone, not out here and not like this. “Rue,” he said again, louder. “Hey, Rue I- need help.”

The prodding made her shift, and as she woke up, another contraction hit, stealing Tai’s words for several moments.

“Tai, what is it?”

“Nnh,” he replied around a breath, and he couldn’t really see her that well, but with that, she moved, rustling about.

“Oh dear. Tai, um. Is it…?”

“Hurts pretty bad,” he said, once the squeeze died down.

“Is it- you’re starting?”

Tai nodded. Or at least, he thought so. The overwhelming urge to push hadn’t come yet; he was just restless and hurting, his hips feeling full and heavy. Rue shuffled around some more and Tai could see more of an outline now as she pulled on her coat and opened the door to climb out.

She pulled Tai’s sleeping bag free and wadded it up, then dug in the front seat to get him his hoodie and another blanket. Tai watched, his gaze interrupted for several moments as another squeeze overtook him.

“Should- should we go to the water? Or do you- should we stay here?” Rue came up beside him and draped his hoodie over his shoulders. Tai breathed through his nose.

“I dunno. Um. W- water, probably.”

“Okay, um…” Rue paused. “Wait. Um, stay here.”

“What?”

“I’ll- I’ll be right back.”

She put the extra blanket over his shoulders, then walked around to the other side of the car. Tai heard wood clack together, and then Rue turned her phone flashlight on and pocketed a couple more things. And then she hurried off down the path that Tai had taken to the water.

She came back empty handed in the middle of a contraction, the fourth since she’d left. Tai bore through them, leaned on his arms against the car with his knees cocked and belly hanging. He let out a breath he’d been holding, and then Rue touched his shoulder, taking his hand. “Okay?” she asked.

“Sorta,” he managed, standing upright slowly and clinging to her hand. “S'worse.”

“I- I know. But it’ll be okay.” She let him lean on her as much as he liked, and he let her lead him down the trail. Again, he had to stop, but this time it was nothing but contractions. One welled up and his knees shook, but he breathed through it on Rue’s suggestion. The second came as he was stepping around a log, and he trembled, then eased his way down to sit, rocking, his face against Rue’s stomach. He sat there long enough, Rue rubbing slow lines up and down his back, that yet another came and went; the tail end of it was sharp, and he groaned, clinging to Rue’s jacket.

But she urged him up after that, and they made it to the more open clearing closer to the water before another squeeze pressed Tai’s breath out of him. Rue held him up and they swayed together, almost like dancing, until the small noise issuing from Tai’s mouth ceased. Rue slowly let go of him, raising his hand to rest against a tree, and went about arranging the bits of wood she’d brought from their camp to start a fire.

Tai saw the glow after two more contractions, and it quickly rose to engulf the dry wood. Each squeeze came nearly after the next now, and as Rue stood, the pressure on Tai’s hips and belly jumped sharply.

“Ooow, ow, ow, fuck. O-ow…”

And then Rue was at his side again. “D-do you want to- um, lay down? Or, um…”

“Nnh, I dunno, I dunno- ow-” Tai balled his hands into fists, head buried against one, the other pressed hard against his belly. “I don’t wanna… nhh. Fuck, I don’t know.”

“Okay. Okay, um, just… just breathe.” Gently, Rue took one arm and then the other and turned him around. He clung to her coat immediately, and she wrapped her arms around him and swayed. “Like this. Like this.”

Tai tried. The movement helped a little, but the more they did move, the more the _eggs_ moved. Pretty soon, even the swaying didn’t help anymore. One contraction squeezed at Tai’s middle so hard the eggs even protested by wiggling. But it also squeezed at his hips, and then a new pressure surfaced, a swelling pain that had his legs shaking. Rue hung onto him as he clung back, trying to support himself and swearing into her coat. “A- _ah_ , fuck-!” The exclamation cut off and droned into a moan, and Tai’s hips felt like they were on fire.

Once he could breathe again and the haze of pain had diminished slightly, he managed coherent words. “I gotta- I gotta push, Rue, I- fuck- _now_ -”

He cut off as a contraction squeezed, and sank lower, hanging onto Rue’s middle to keep balance while he gulped a breath, held it, and pushed. The pressure immediately spread and grew, forcing its way lower against his pelvis and stretching his insides. He shook with the force he put into it, with the feeling of the eggs pressing against each other and between his legs. Rue clung to him, too, holding him steady. “Okay,” she murmured. “Okay. We’ll- lay you down when… when you can-”

Tai nodded, sucking in another short breath for a quick push as the contraction dwindled, and eased his way to the bank near the fire. Rue had folded his sleeping bag in half as a makeshift bed on the spongy ground, close enough that a bit of warmth bled into it. Tai crouched, getting to his knees just as his muscles squeezed again; he let go of Rue and leaned forward, his belly brushing the ground as he bore down on the feeling with a groan.

“ _Uugh_ , fuck, fuck.” The pain had slowly grown with each passing minute. Now, in the moments between contractions, it stayed heightened, Tai’s body stretching itself wide to accommodate the passing of the two dozen eggs nestled within.

“Here,” Rue said, kneeling in front of him. “Up-”

He dragged himself straight, which allowed Rue to work his pants down around his legs.

“It hurts,” he whimpered, draping his arms over her shoulders. “I don’t wanna… ngh…”

“I know,” Rue said, as Tai caught his breath and pushed through another contraction. His body shuddered with it, and he jerked as a spike of pain rammed into the small of his back.

“ _Aah-_ ” he cried, eyes watering. “Nnh- goddamn it, this- this is stupid, fucking- shitty… shitty idea _aah! Fuck,_ fuck fuck fuck-”

He cut off on half a breath, forced to push under the pressure of the mass of eggs lodged inside him. The spike of pain stayed jabbed into his back, bleeding into his bones, and finally, he let himself inhale again, only to hold it and bear down.

Tai let one of his arms fall from Rue’s shoulder, reaching to try and feel beneath his taut belly, but he couldn’t quite tell, his touch kept at bay by his girth and revealing nothing. “Shit, it- it feels like it’s there, but-”

The next contraction didn’t wait for him to finish. It rolled over him like a steamroller, and he felt dizzy and sick. He groaned through his teeth, and the noise turned into a moan, and then a shout, muffled against Rue’s coat. He jolted again, sitting up straighter as he felt his slit bulge, instinctively pushing and yet trying to keep his knees closed.

“Tai-” Rue spoke up then. “Do you need to- to move? Um, lay? Or-” She hesitated, then seemed to come to a conclusion by the way she stiffened against him. He tried to breathe, but his head was fuzzy with overstimulation, and so all he could focus on was the egg breaching between his legs and the rest to come.

He felt the shift as the squeezing dwindled again, Rue pushing on his shoulders to get him to sit. He rocked to the side, his muscles protesting the push on the egg and its retreat the few inches back into his birth canal. Rue kept pushing, hanging onto him so he wouldn’t flop backward, and got him laying down, then he felt his legs get moved and the cool of the night as she freed him from his pants.

When the next contraction struck, Rue had begun to push Tai’s knees up, spreading him wider, and balancing his feet against her shoulders. He pushed, not only from his belly but with his feet, and she leaned into him, and the egg eased its way down again. Tai’s slit bulged around its ovoid form, but the moment he stopped, just to catch a breath, it began to slip back in. So he sucked in a second’s worth of air and pushed again, gritting his teeth and forcing the same breath back out between them.

His slit stretched around the egg, its tapered end now free and allowing Tai the briefest respite. He felt Rue push his knees again, and bore into it, and-

The large, grapefruit-sized egg gushed out, a small amount of fluid dribbling after, and the beginnings of the second making its way into Tai’s birth canal. He was too focused on pushing to pay much attention, but he did feel Rue lean to one side, her shoulders shifting under his feet before returning to their original position as his stirrups.

With the buildup over and Tai’s contractions in full swing- the tail end of one sliding into the beginning of another with just enough space for him to grab a breath- all he could do was keep going.

He pushed, and with each long squeeze the eggs adjusted to each other, clumped low in his belly and feeling as if they were fighting for their turn. The second egg breached after two pushes, and on the third, it popped from him only to leave its next kin still stretching his canal around itself.

Tai whimpered. The eggs almost felt like he was pushing out a human baby each time, his slit aching from their girth and the whole of him trembling with exertion. But his body didn’t give up, and he let his head fall back, grabbing at his knees and spreading them wide as the third egg slipped out and rolled into his sleeping bag.

Each time, Rue bent, probably to clear them away; it was dark enough even with the fire that Tai only saw an outline of her, and still, he couldn’t focus long enough to glean more than that.

Two eggs passed in rather quick succession, another small dribble of fluid accompanying them, and another two pushes saw the advent of the next. The sky had yet to lighten at all; the stars shone brilliantly above them though they provided little help as Tai pushed out yet another huge egg.

These were not like the previous births. The first was a surprise, sure, but in comparison it was over quickly. The creature that had first bred him, not to mention its brood, seemed small compared to this one. Even the one after, despite circumstance, felt somehow simpler. He should have expected something more when this creature couldn’t even breed him properly, when he couldn’t even help push its spawn into himself. Barely halfway through the first dozen and he was already exhausted, sweating and panting when he could get a breath in edgewise. His legs felt numb, his belly squeezed nearly solid, and his back and hips on fire. His nethers ached, and he shuddered, overworked muscles twingeing and still grasping to shove the eggs free.

He managed three more eggs before dropping his hands to his sides, breathing through his nose and letting his feet sit against Rue’s shoulders limply. She touched his knee gently, and he looked blearily up at her. “Fuck, I can’t-” he moaned, turning to try and let the weight of his belly lean to one side. The eggs jostled within, the change in position sloshing them together, but when the next contraction hit, Tai didn’t bother pushing. He felt the next egg in him, squeezing slowly downward without his help, but it was so very slow.

“Tai?” Rue asked softly, an edge of worry in her voice.

“M'tired-” he muttered through his teeth, squeezing his eyes shut. “It’s- it hurts, goddamn it…”

“I- I’m sure it does, but-” She paused, cut off by a whimper from Tai, and reached to find his hand. When she couldn’t, she instead laid her hand on his belly, rubbing along its side.

“Get’m out…” was all the more he said. Rue couldn’t do much more than she was already doing, but he felt her push on his knee to get him resituated on his back, belly weighing still heavy on him. She reached around his legs, keeping them in place, and leaned so he was spread open, but this time she rested her hands on either side of his belly, pushing gently with the heels of her palms and massaging.

“You can do it,” she said. And really, he had to; he took a breath and bore down all over again, the eggs working against the shrinking space of his womb.

The massage did help. Tai moved his grip from the sleeping bag to press his hands under his belly, clinging to keep it taut. Another two eggs popped out of him and he felt Rue shift to clear them away one at a time, a third slipping out as she did so.

It was such slow going, though. Each egg took an agonizing couple of pushes before it gushed free, and immediately there was another waiting, Tai stretched wide around it.

“Fuck,” he repeated for what felt like the hundredth time, when one of the eggs- now counting into the double digits- plopped onto the sleeping bag. “Just fuckin’… get ‘em out…”

It was a stupid idea, but at that point, Tai was too addled to care. One hand still pushing from beneath his belly, he grabbed for one of Rue’s arms with his other and flattened her palm over his navel. “C'mon,” he prompted, not worried about whatever would happen in between and simply looking toward an end goal.

Rue hesitated- Tai realized she probably would. But something in her clicked, too. Maybe it was a greater worry for what would happen if the birth kept dragging on into morning. After all, the sky was beginning to lighten; Tai’s labor was nearing six hours. Or maybe it was that she trusted Tai’s judgment, or any of a few other things. But then she splayed both her hands around Tai’s navel and gently leaned into him.

The pressure changed immediately. Rue shifted, switching to leaning on her arms so she wasn’t pushing in such concentrated spots, and the eggs responded by sloshing against each other and filling whatever space they could. Tai’s abdomen squeezed, pushing them further, and his own hands flattened under his belly provided even less space for them to slip into. The only other way was out. And with that he could acutely feel how his womb contracted, see how each of the shapes of the remaining eggs lay inside him. Achingly, he lifted his foot, tried for and missed Rue’s shoulder.

His womb protested, jolting, and he gritted his teeth against it, the narrower end of another egg slowly widening him as he tried again and managed to keep his foot up.

The other was way more difficult, but Rue dipped lower to help, which let him arrange both feet and spread himself wide around the half-birthed egg. One push later, it popped free, but this time Rue didn’t move to clear it away.

Tai moved his hands, gripping his belly and pushing. He felt Rue lean into his feet, and yet again a massive egg slipped free, another already crowning.

One push, and it plopped free, nestled with the others and waiting through two more pushes before the next of its kin slid out alongside some slick fluid.

Tai could see Rue properly now; the campfire had died to nothing but dull coals and the sky had lightened to pale blue-gray, which funnily matched the translucent eggs between his legs.

Four more of them plopped free, each clustering against the next with a push or two.

After another slid free, knocking the others out of the way slowly, Rue sat up and Tai was vaguely aware of her clearing those away too. He pushed three more times in quick succession, one more huge egg popping out, and two more pushes heralding another, with a squelch of fluid.

But then there was nothing else for Tai’s muscles to expel. He let go of his belly, letting his arms flop to the ground and his legs slide flat as well. Rue pushed the last of the eggs down the bank and into the river where they disappeared with two small splashes, and then turned back to him. She reached, getting to all fours over him, and touched his damp hair.

“Okay?” she asked.

Tai moved his hips. They ached, but other than the exhaustion and slowly easing pain… He cocked his elbows, hefting himself halfway to sitting, and closer to Rue’s face, then turned his head and kissed her.

“Yeah, m'okay. But I’m pretty sure I don’t wanna do that again.”

Rue, pink, laughed softly, and awkwardly. “That’s, um… yeah. Probably a good- yeah, a good idea.”

“But,” Tai continued, breathy and drained. “M'gonna stay with you, yeah?”

Rue blinked, and then her slight confusion turned into a small smile. “Yes,” she said into Tai’s mouth as she returned his kiss.


	9. Chapter 9

**One Year Later…**

 

 

“Rue, I want a hot dog,” Tai grumbled. Sat in a chair and flicking through his phone, he’d grown bored, and suddenly had a craving.

“We have, um… sausages, dear,” Rue replied, from the bedroom.

“I don’t want sausages, I want a hot dog,” Tai insisted. “The kind where it says ‘mechanically separated pork’ on the package and the bun is like, fluffy glue, and they’re only like two dollars but you get 'em at the stadium for like ten bucks.”

“Oh.” Rue came out of the bedroom with two decks of Tarot cards in hand. “You mean junk food.”

Tai nodded. “The shittiest you got.”

Rue sighed, smiling. She glided over to him and bent to press a kiss to his forehead, one which he leaned into. “Shopping, then?”

“I can go, too.”

“Are- are you sure?”

“I’m _fine_ , I keep saying.”

“I just-”

“I _know_ , but seriously, baby,” he said, pushing himself up. “It ain’t even that far. An’ you _said_ exercise is good for me.”

Rue quieted, and from that, Tai knew that he’d won. He patted her hand. “Look, I’ll fuckin’… get one of those plug-in carts or something if I get tired. But I’m not tired right now, I wanna go too. And I know you like it better when I do.”

He turned, patting her hand again, and went to take his jacket from the hall closet. Rue followed after a moment, shrugging on her own large sweater and slipping her sandals on.

She did offer her arm almost immediately. Tai took it just so she wouldn’t fret, but let go so he could slide into the car himself.

The grocery store wasn’t particularly busy. It was early evening, the time when most people would be getting home from work and doing anything but shopping, so it was perfect for Rue, who still wasn’t too fond of anyone, really. Honestly, Tai wouldn’t have minded if she wanted to stay in the car, but she wouldn’t let him be on his own anyway and followed meekly in.

While there, not only did they find a package of cheap hot dogs and buns, but Tai suddenly felt like he needed a caesar salad kit and some macaroni and cheese, so he added that to the handbasket. He reached for a box of hamburger helper too, which let him catch a lady staring at him out of the corner of his eye. When he turned, she abruptly moved her cart and went down the next aisle.

He snorted at her. Rude.

By the time he and Rue made it to the checkout, he’d also added a seltzer water to the handbasket, alongside some potato wedges from the deli. He didn’t even particularly _like_ deli potatoes, he just _wanted_ them.

Rue, bless her, played along, unquestioning of his purchases.

“Hello!” The cashier greeted them with a smile, her eyes flicking briefly between Tai and Rue, and down, but all that happened was that her smile grew. “How are you today?”

“We’re good,” Tai said. He rubbed his knuckles into his hip a little, moving out of the way so Rue could pay.

“That’s great.” The cashier paused. “Sorry, um. I just wanted to say, you look nice. Are you- um- pregnant? I don’t want to assume…”

“Oh,” Tai said, looking down at himself and his rounded belly. “Uh… yeah. It’s, what, twenty-five weeks?”

Rue entered her pin, then glanced up and nodded.

“Aww,” the cashier cooed. “Well congratulations. I hope it goes well.”

“Um, thanks?”

Tai took the lighter of their two bags, Rue grabbing the other. He absently rubbed the side of his belly and felt one slight movement in response. “It’s still weird,” he finally said.

“Um, people asking?” Rue asked. “It’s- well, it’s only been a little since… since they started noticing.”

“Well, yeah, but like… in general. Feels like ages, but- aw, man, you’re right. They’re gonna keep wanting to yammer on about babies for _months_ , huh?”

She chuckled. “Probably.”

“Fuck. Maybe this was a bad idea.”

“Oh, was it?”

Tai paused. Rue’s tone didn’t imply anything like regret or concern- she knew Tai wanted this. And Tai knew he wanted it too, he was just…

“It’s a little scary,” he said, opening the car door. “Like, not this part, this is old hat. But like… what comes after.”

He sighed, levering himself into the seat. Rue put her bag in the back and then got in.

“It is,” she admitted. “But… I think- it’s okay.”

“Yeah… even if I’m a fuckup, you’ll be a good mom.”

“You won’t be a fuckup.” She reached, brushing his hair back. “You’re good just like you are.”

“Oh, like this, huh? You just want me knocked up all the time? You know that can be arranged.” He smirked.

“Tai- you know what I mean-”

“Yeah, I know, I know.” He sat, and slowly ran his hands over his taut belly, watching them and trying to imagine what was beneath, trying to feel the movement of the two little bodies inside.

“'Sides,” he continued, smiling, “Twins is a whole other ball game.”


End file.
